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Should Turkey be allowed into the EU?

This poll is closed

Should Turkey be allowed to become a member of the European Union?

No 83%
Yes 15%
Don't know2%
Total votes: 41
What do you think?

personally I'm against Turkey joining the EU because 5% of Turkey is in the Europe and it's also a danger to national security as we would be sharing borders with Syria and Iran if it did become an EU member.
I'm perfectly happy with Turkey co-operating with the EU though on things like trade and combating terrorism
(edited 10 years ago)

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Reply 1
Not with the Islamist presidency and the abusing of protesters so recently.
Reply 2
Original post by The_Duck
Not with the Islamist presidency and the abusing of protesters so recently.


I completely agree, can't believe I forgot that
Reply 3
No.
Not with an Islamist government, we simply can't trust them which is a shame as i think Turkey has a lot of good aspects that would be more than welcome in the EU. I do think we should be doing our utmost to support the groups in Turkey dedicated to secularism such as the military and recent protest groups however until the Islamists are ousted and we are sure there is no realistic chance of them gaining power we can't let them in the EU.
Reply 5
Well Turkey has done a lot of progress in the last decade.Its economy is very strong and they worked towards some of the goals set by the EU to start negotiations..

I am in favour of cooperation and trade deals but I don;t support full EU membership.First of all talking about geography Turkey belongs to Asia.Secondly it is religion.It wwould be the only EU member,islamic country.The notion of politicians and everyday people is also different to the European.I also have to point out the lack of democracy in several issues.Some kind of disrespect to minorities and great social differences.If you exclude highly developed cities and areas like Istanbul,Izmir,Bodrum,the rest of Turkey is deep in poverty and not developed.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 6
No. Economically it will be bad for us. I guarantee that we will end up giving them bailout money - just like Greece.
Reply 7
They need to meet the entry criteria and all states of the EU must agree.

At present they don't fulfill the criteria and the acquis-communitaire, Not all MS of the EU want Turkey to join
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Darth Stewie
Not with an Islamist government, we simply can't trust them


Why can't you?


Erdogan is one of the most compassionate and succesful prime ministers across the globe.

Original post by Darth Stewie

which is a shame as i think Turkey has a lot of good aspects that would be more than welcome in the EU.


Like the economy which has thrived under Erdogan?
Original post by Darth Stewie

I do think we should be doing our utmost to support the groups in Turkey dedicated to secularism such as the military and recent protest groups


So attempt a coup d etat and disregard Turks right to vote for Erdogan and the his party?

Just because of some activists with criminals running riot?

And hiding their criminal activities under the banner of protesting against the "islamification of Turkey" although they can provide nothing to support this.

Original post by Darth Stewie

however until the Islamists are ousted and we are sure there is no realistic chance of them gaining power we can't let them in the EU.



What's so wrong with the "islamists" may I ask?



And secondly, I think you will find studies show that the majority of Turks don't even want to join the EU.




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And for the very simple reason: Turkey is not and never has been in Europe, except from the territories seized by the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, that includes our Constantinople.
Reply 10
Sharing an open border with 70 million muslims-no thanks, we'd be swamped especially due to the lower living standards. Also, they would have a bigger say due to their higher population than us, geographically, they are mostly in asia and also share a border with syria and other volatile countries. The EU will be keen for them to join so it can expand its sphere of influence and control over millions more people, Turkey would be wise to stay away in fact. Turkey also has various human rights problems and is too different culturally.
No.

I don't think anyone should be joining the EU right now considering it's massive problems but...

Turkey isn't really in Europe, but msot of all it's just not ready. It's government isn't really what I would say is pro-European, and the country is still caught between western democracy and ideals and more regressive fundamental strains seen within the middle-east.

It borders too many volatile countries and regions, border control would thus be near impossible, the EU would have unsecured frontiers.


There is part of me sympathetic to Turkish wishes for membership, and in an ideal world I think Turkey would have a place. But we live in a world where even current member states are ambivalent about the EU, and some such as ours questioning continued membership. It's a sick institution and expansion isn't the answer.
Reply 12
I'm not keen on Turkey in the EU and given that they don't even know if they want monetary union - maybe they're not that keen either.

In terms of the moral case - it's kind of hypocritical to exclude them on any terms other than geography. Sure, they have historic form on genocide and starting wars - but so do the Germans. Additionally, we were quite happy to have them in NATO to buffer us against the Soviets.
Original post by Andyrobbo1994
What do you think?

personally I'm against Turkey joining the EU because 5% of Turkey is in the EU.


Forgetting about Cyprus, are we?

It's also a danger to national security as we would be sharing borders with Syria and Iran if it did become an EU member.


And just how would Iran, let alone Syria, which is still in the midst of an on-going two year civil war, pose a threat to our national security? Simply sharing a border with both countries is irrelevant considering if Turkey were to be accepted into the EU - and that's a big if when one looks at the Franco-German stance - it more than likely would not be accepted into the Shengen Area.
No: Turks are a group of wild Turkic peoples from central Asia.

Turkic nations are more related to China, Mongolia and even Afghans than they are to Europeans.
Reply 15
It's not going to be happen anyway. We Turks know that we will never be the part of the EU. and most of turkish people also against being the part of the european union including me. the EU in fact is a christian union so we are muslims our customs and traditions are completely different. also, while british people want to get out of the Eu, why would turkish people want to get in? we have stable economy and good reputation among both the islamic world and turkish world. there are 500 millions turks live in the world and 1,5 billion muslims so we can get united with them. as a turk I'm in favour of being united with the islamic world not the eu. but I can't deny that the EU helps us to be a democratic country some criterias helped us to be more democratic country though.
Reply 16
Why would anyone want to join the EU at this time? It's like joining Titanic while it's sinking.
Reply 17
I used to be hesitantly supportive of Turkish EU entry but in recent years swung firmly against it for the time being. Turkey has to develop further economically and democratically before it can be integrated into the EU. We could handle poor, corrupt, democratically shaky little Bulgaria's very premature entry, but there's no way we could handle massive Turkey's yet - especially at a time of severe economic crisis.
Reply 18
Original post by Vanbrugh
I used to be hesitantly supportive of Turkish EU entry but in recent years swung firmly against it for the time being. Turkey has to develop further economically and democratically before it can be integrated into the EU.


How should it develop further economically and democratically?
Original post by Vanbrugh

We could handle poor, corrupt, democratically shaky little Bulgaria's very premature entry, but there's no way we could handle massive Turkey's yet - especially at a time of severe economic crisis.


So how is Turkey poor, corrupt and democratically shaky may I ask?



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Reply 19
With Turkey's proximity to the issues in the Middle East and its slow march to authoritarianism, allowing it into the EU is a risk we cannot commit to in such economically uncertain times.

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