Plus 1.Turkey can talk about joining the EU when the Cyprus problem they created is resolved.

Mjhint, I see you never heard of Enosis or EOKA?

Give them our seat at the european table.

They brutalise the Kurdish people and deny them any rights whatsoever, outlaw, jail and torture their political representatives and commit endless war-crimes against them. We never hear enough about the plight of the Kurdish people, I wonder why? Would it have anything to do with Turkey being a key member of NATO? It’s just more blatant hypocrisy from the U.S. and it’s allies..

The Turks committed genocide in Armenia ( 1m+ ), – Anti-Christian, mass-murderers.

@my anarchic trek, the Armenian Genocide happened in 1915 by the Ottoman empire. The Holocaust happened more recently , 1940 to 1945, 6 million jews brutally murdered by the Nazis. If you continue to hold the Turkish parliment guilty of the Armenian genocide, then I take it that by your logic, you must surely hold the current German goverment guilty of the holocaust. Or does the fact that the Germans being White christian make it easier to move on?

Well the germans carried their shame and apologised for the horrors they committed, the turks havent. Its hard to move on when they refuse to even acknowledge what happened let alone offer an apology

I think this is fair enough. The EU was formed for stability and cohesion among similarly minded states. If Turkey has more in common with the Middle East, maybe a union of those countries for stability there would be preferable? Not saying no to them joining, just throwing that out there!

B Lowe, could please tell us about human rights under the assads?

Turkey doesn’t export Islamic jihadists to Syria. You make it sound like it’s government policy. It’s not. Sure, some Turks are heading off to fight as jihadists, but it’s off their own bat. Just like there were British muslims fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan and French and Italian jihadists in Libya. Surely you’re not suggesting that France, the UK and Italy are exporting Islamic jihadists?

However, on the press freedom and human rights abuses I will agree completely. When Turkey apologises for, and improves, its treatment of the Kurds, and when it apologises for the Armenian genocide, then perhaps it could be considered. Until then, not a hope!

Brian — They are very sensible conditions.

B Lowe: Turkey currently locks up journalists who disagree with current Turkish national interests.

So does Russia. Just saying..

That comment reads like an editorial one might read written by a frothing John Bull in a 1970s Daily Mail Editorial:

‘Why would the EEC let Eire join?

Eire has been and are currently exporting IRA terrorists to the UK where they are murdering innocents in the streets of Guilford and Birmingham.

Eire is in the de facto control of the catholic church who decide which laws can and cannot be passed. There is mass abuse of children by clergy. Everybody knows but nothing is done.

It is a strongly patriarchal society which forbids married woman from working in the civil service. Most laughably of all, pornographic magazines and condoms are forbidden.

In short, it is a bizarre little state run by religious zealots and whose people ponder little else other than potatoes and self loathing.’

Lucky for us the rest of the world wasn’t as judgemental as you!

That’s exactly what I’m suggesting. Turkey has been training foreign Islamic jihadists for over two years now on the Libyan border. They have been doing this in conjunction with Mossad/CIA. They have also been arming them with arms shipped to turkey from Qatar/Libya/UAE/Saudi Arabia. These countries have also been financing them. Just Google it. Loads upon loads of alternative news sources provide this documented information.

Turkey had no qualms accepting the machinery pilfered from hundreds of factories at Aleppo by Islamic jihadists and shipped to Turkey.

The Turkish economy is probably in better shape then Greece.

Racist much..

Hardly racist Petr but glad to know you use that word with reckless abandon.

The Turkish economy is a terrible state. This has been one of the main reasons in my opinion why Erdogan let this ‘rebellion’ happen. It takes the focus off the economic policies of his government which have been disastrous.
Turkey cannot get foreign banks/currency to invest in Turkey and without the billions Saudi Arabia has pledged Turkey would be in a qualm.

@B Lowe wtf ? Turkeys GDP grew by 8.5% in 2011, second only to China’s growth. They had a small slump last year due to falling international demand but are on target to be one of the world’s top 15 economies by 2022.

They have also signed agreements with the Kurdish government to construct a huge oil & gas pipeline running right through the country and into the heart of Europe- that is what their EU membership bid is all about, nothing else. This pipeline is due for construction in 2014 but only with Istanbul’s say so.

Turkey are considered a serious player in NATO and they will gain entry to the EU, not tomorrow but soon. The realpolitick of the situation is that at the moment the EU is dependent on Russian oil and gas and Brussels (understandably) wants to get away from that situation. The solution is a pipeline direct to Europe coming from Kurdistan which has oil fields which are as big as some of the Saudi fields. .

If you want energy security then you’re much better off dealing with the Kurds and Turks than you are being at the whim of Vladimir Putin. Putin has already turned off the gas supply to Ukraine in the past to teach them a political lesson, have no doubt he would do the exact same to the EU if the circumstances presented themselves. The EU needs Turkey as a lynchpin to depart from dependence on Russian energy, the price for that will (eventually) be EU membership.

Qualm?

Care to explain why John? Turkish membership would be great for Turkey- enhancing their secular approach to government- and great for Europe, since they are an increasingly prosperous and influential country. I visited Turkey for the first time last year and quickly concluded their entry to Europe would be a very mutually beneficial step.

Why? Because they are brown and Muslim?

Xenophobic much?

Very quick to bring racism into a discussion where it doesn’t belong.
My reasons are based primarily on human rights, womens rights and the Turkish economy.

Petr you need to educate yourself rather than calling everyone else racist.

1. Endogan is trying to move Turkey away from its secular constitution and traditions.
2. His government is eroding women’s rights.
3. There are moves afoot to prevent the translation and sale of science books dealing with evolution and other such topics that challenge the dogmas of Islam.
4. Journalists are currently in jail for speaking out against his government.
5. He has lowered the age at which kids can be sent to school in Islamic madrasahs.

I’ve nothing at all against the people of turkey or Muslims but we should all be very cautious of letting in a country that is turning its back on secularism in favour of Islam and possibly a form of sharia.

Ciaran, that is exactly why we should get Turkey into the EU. It would open dialogue to Western Europe even wider, it would expose her citizens to the ideals of freedom and republicanism, and it would give us access to another fantastic culture other than our own.

When Ireland joined in the 70s we were hardly perfect, but EU membership has been forcing our conservative government into modernisation ever since. The same will happen in Turkey.

Our economy is under a debt burden, credit crunch and facing large deficits, we just released a report on women imprisoned and enslaved in institutions, meanwhile the same women still don’t have reproductive rights…

Oh but we’re white, english speaking christians… so we are more ‘in common’ with what people consider european and thus face different standards.

ciaran, there will be no sharia or an ‘Islamic regime’ in turkey.. even though people of turkey are mostly muslim, most of them have very secular customs.. so that idea is ridiculous..

for erdogan, we should remember this, his party was the one materialized the EU candidacy by starting the eu negotiations.. all the other big parties, leftist, islamist, and of course republicans were very against to EU membership and possible EU bid in 2003 elections.. so erdogan’s ak party was the only one promising an EU membership and he won the elections that year and all the non-pro-european parties got skunked..

erdogan ‘s party, turkish people were very eager to eu membership; but for years, some big EU states aren’t eager to share their powers in the EU administration with a mostly Muslim country, so because of that Cyprus issue is still an obstacle for Turkish membership, even though Turkish part of Cyprus had voted for the solution and Greek part for non-solution in the UN plan.. cyprus issue is a good leverage to oppose turkey’s membership.. even, some non-eu countries force Cypriot state to oppose all the solution plans, for their petroleum and natural gas based economy’s security..

and we shouldn’t forget that: turkey has been suffering from separatist terrorism* for 30 years, and finally this year a peace plan has been offered to solve this problem..

*for petroleum-rich regions..

No, if they are good enough for the Eurovision then they are good enough for the EU!

Azerbijan, Armenia, Israel, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Vatican City just some of the EBU members which are eligible for eurovision. I can only think of one of those I’d like in the EU.

That wouldn’t fill you with Turkish delight?

I love the assumption.

Every person in Turky has their atlas open. “Limerick! That’s where I’ll go!”

And if a Turk arrives on these shores and gets a job, more power to him/her. If a Turkish man gets a job instead of Tom or Mike, that says more about Tom and Mike than it does about the Turkish fella.

Tommy… why on earth would they leave a booming economy in a country on the edge of the Mediterranean to come to Ireland? Oh I know… if they were highly qualified and there was a shortage of their particular skill in Ireland which meant that they could name a decent wage. Sounds horrible.

@Tommy C, what an ignorant statement you just made. Do you really think that is why people come to Ireland , to scrounge off the system. Is that why thousands of Irish people have left Ireland over the years to scrounge off someone elses system. I don’t think so. Leaving you home country is one of the hardest desicions alot of people have to make. Some are forced to leave because of famine and war, some because of persecution (religious, sexual, political) and yes also for economical reasons, but they all are looking to improve their lives, and given the chance contribute to the country they now live in. Just look at the positive contribution that Irish imigrantes have made over the years around the world in their new countries. If Irish people can make a valuable contribution in other lands, and still be allowed to maintain their Irishness with pride, then maybe other cultures can make a positve contribution to Ireland, or are they just too foreign for you?

Run for the hills turkey .

Iceland and turkey are pushing to join the EU while poland, hungry and latvia want to adopt the Euro again too. They all must know something we dont!

Yes I have and it is a dodgy lip…

no, it ‘s a poem read by pm erdogan but he sentenced some months because of he read that poem: which was very against to freedom of expression..