Turkey Recommended For Membership To The EU

The 30-member European Union has recommended Turkey be put on the path to full membership, a move that could push Europe's borders to the Middle East and invoked fears among Europeans that are wary of bringing a poor Muslim country into the prosperous union.

Excerpts from main story:

Reflecting widespread misgivings, the 30-member EU executive commission on Wednesday set tough conditions to prevent Turkey from backtracking on sweeping democratic and human rights reforms, prompting a sharp response from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"If the European Union declares itself to be a Christian club we should know this clearly," he said.

In Brussels, European Commission President Romano Prodi said the recommendation to start entry talks was a "a qualified yes" to Turkey, which has long sought to join the EU. "Our position is a positive one, but also a prudent, cautious one," he said.

Turkey wouldn't actually join the EU until around 2015, but Wednesdays recommendations sets the course for full membership.

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Corrected address.




[edit on 7/10/04 by Intelearthling]

There are two German exchange students on the cross country team with me. Everytime Raik talks with me about Germany he always sounds sad when the talk turns to immigration. Raik says when a German gets partiotic he is called a nazi. He says there are thousands of Turkish immigrants in Germany already and if Turkey gets full membership to the European Union Immigration will be easier and Germans would soon become a minority in their own country. If he says these things in his school he would be branded a nazi. France is filling up with Algerians. Spain is filling up with Moroccons. Germany is filling up with Turkish. Great Britian is filling up with them all. The Arab world must truly be a terrible place if all of the people who have the necessary funds leave as soon as possible to a country that doesn't suck so bad. Poor Germans and poor Raik. I say this and I'm Jewish...........

Originally posted by verfed
Raik says when a German gets partiotic he is called a nazi..... I say this and I'm Jewish...........

I've read some of your postings and I know that you're pro-Israeli. It is a sad situation when someone is patriotic and voice their beliefs how inflamed some people can get. It happens roght here in the United States. If someone says that we're doing the right thing in the Middle East, then automatically we're war-mongering fanatics.

You're quite right in your posting though. The Middle East must be a really terrible place to be if all the people there with any money seeks to move out of the region.

Peace out Bro-man!

Turkey I am torn on. I feel that Turkey is part of Europe and has such a massive involvement in European history however I can understand where many European nations are having problems with immigration

We are one world and one people but I want to see nation's traditions and cultures respected and not taken over by immigrants To be made a minority by groups of immigrants who do not want to relinquish some of their culture and identity and assimilate with anothers i find a truly sad thing.

The way I see it is I want Turkey just to have free-trade and passage in Europe, but immigration checked, basically be a second-tier member. When the population of a nation in Europe has minorities ranking about 30%, i think then its time to cut immigration

A major problem with opposition to this is its just not politically correct. I know it's wrong to discriminate against a group of people because of where they come from but I wouldn't want to lose my heritage if i was in Europe.

I'm perfectly fine with immigration in australia, we were just a colony anyway and I welcome people of all races to come to our nation and make it stronger.

But I just somehow feel different about Europe. Europe is the home of modern western Civilization and i don't want that to be lost.

I know it doesn't exactly sound logical or politically correct but it's how i feel.

thanks,
drfunk

Originally posted by Intelearthling

Originally posted by verfed
Raik says when a German gets partiotic he is called a nazi..... I say this and I'm Jewish...........

I've read some of your postings and I know that you're pro-Israeli. It is a sad situation when someone is patriotic and voice their beliefs how inflamed some people can get. It happens roght here in the United States. If someone says that we're doing the right thing in the Middle East, then automatically we're war-mongering fanatics.

You're quite right in your posting though. The Middle East must be a really terrible place to be if all the people there with any money seeks to move out of the region.

Peace out Bro-man!

First of all, thanks to verfed for his opinion and insight about 2 german exchange students. Actually, yes it is how they told you. Germans are easily scared of each other and of themself like "Oh, I think we have enough foreigners here in my town, am I a Nazi now?" - feelings like that.
I would call it the neverending 2nd world war scare

Imho the turkeys here in our country are a perfect addition to society BUT as I already said in other threads, they differ quite much from the actual Turk in Turkey. German turks are 2-3rd generation-turks living in Germany, so families came in the 1960s or 1970s.
At the current time, Germany won't stand a new wave of immigrants who are yet to INTEGRATE. We still have a lot of problems and integration aspects to solve before we can open our arms for some fresh faces. I am not saying this in disrespect to foreigners but you can compare it to a good running company. If all people leave and like 100 fresh employees are contracted there will be chaos. You need to take it slowly to do it right.

@Intelearthling

Your last paragraph is wonderful. I will remind that one, it's a a nice observation and I guess would this be realised by the people in Arabian countries changes into good will finally take place.

Isn't the EU a step in the direction of erasing all internal borders in Europe? Also the Turkish have a much shorter history in Europe then everybody else. In 1453 they conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. The Turkish continued moving north and actually besieged Vienna in 1683. When that happened Poland, Russia, an Venice joined the Hapsburgs to force the Turkish out of Hungary which they succeded in 1687. It Wasn't until after the Turkish were defeated in World War 1 that they were pushed back to Istanbul. It is easy to see the Turkish immigrants as invaders because the Turkish WERE the only succesful Muslim invaders into Christendom.

Sure but how many Europeans actually know that much about history? (sounds funny but believe me, that's something not many people know!)
- the only reason people are frightend of too many immigrants here is that they fear the situation in which they are "one between turks" and not the other way round. Who doesn't?