Originally posted by: Martin
I agree. While xenophones certainly do use the fact that they're muslim, it is not of any practical consequence to their membership - after all they're more rabidly secular than even France.
The real reasons are more along the lines of:
- the Cyprus problem
- the kurdish problem
- economic instability: 3 economic meltdowns over the last 12 years.
- political instability: coups are pretty frequent, last one being in 1997.
- it is poor: a small poor country is much easier to take in than a huge poor one.
- political maturity: As the single largest potential memeber of the EU, Turkey would be able to weild quite a bit of power, thus you can excuse poeple if they mistrust politicians that would idealy like to criminalize adultery
(link)
My view is, Turkey will not be able to carry out the reforms needed, simply because it would be too hard for them and they will not want to submit to the EU and be told what to do for years and years on end...
edit:
And there is more of course, like restrictive free speech laws...
link
Orhan Pamuk, one of Turkey's most acclaimed writers, is facing up to three years in prison. His offense, according to the state prosecutor? "Public denigrating of Turkish identity." Specifically, Mr. Pamuk told a Swiss newspaper in February that certain topics were off-limits for discussion in Turkey -- citing the massacre of Armenians in 1915 and the more recent conflicts between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists. "Thirty-thousand Kurds were killed here, 1 million Armenians as well. And almost no one talks about it," he said. "Therefore, I do."
As mild as these comments sound to American ears, they touched off a firestorm in Turkey, where the government line is that the Armenian deaths were the consequence of war, not genocide, and public discussion of the issue is hazardous. The uproar over Mr. Pamuk's remarks, which included death threats and burnings of his books, culminated with the filing of the criminal case under Article 301/1 of the Turkish Penal Code, which applies criminal penalties to "a person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly." Under Turkish law, Mr. Pamuk isn't even permitted to comment on the charges before his case is heard in December.
I think before Americans or Canadians critisize the EU over Turkey, they should ask themselves if they'd be ok with Turkey joining their federation as a full state/province and judge based on that.