Turkey’s ascension to the European Union appears if not dead, in a coma over Turkish actions against Cyprus and some EU member countries resistance to Turkish membership. As an open question: Who needs who here? Turkey has been held up to the Arab world as the ideal model for democracy and freedom, while Europe appears weakened thanks to a debt crisis that threatens to humble even the strongest European economy.
Why would Turkey agree to be dubious part of one community when they could serve as a modernizing model for another community?
Indeed it appears they don’t. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Brittan and France of having neo-colonialist designs in Libya, while accusing a German foundation of funding Kurdish separatist group PKK, per an Economist report available here: http://www.economist.com/node/21532303. Not exactly behavior of a perspective EU member. Of course, their face of modern Arab democracy isn’t exactly sound either.
Although the army is losing government clout, pretrial detention periods for terrorists could be reduced, and the opposition is being consulted on a new constitution to replace the 1980 military coup constitution. More journalists are in jail in Turkey than any other country, violence against women is among the world’s worst, and a renewed Kurdish crackdown has arrested 3000+ including 12 mayors and 6 parliamentarians.
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