6.28.2004

Turkey and EU Membership

Daniel Geffen - who runs the Bonassus blog - left a comment in response to my posting about Chirac being a bit huffy about our president telling them to take Turkey.

My post was actually meant to reflect my relative amusement at the situation. Bush has made something of a habit of telling others what to do, although he certainly doesn't have the market cornered on that score.

But Daniel makes a good point that it may be very right for Turkey to be included in the EU (check out the link above or here to read more by him on this matter).

I don't find it an easy "yes" or "no" answer, I'm afraid, but I do see some value in it on a few different levels. I think a powerful EU can provide some balance to our increasingly imperialistic little selves and I believe Turkey, a marginalized nation in many eyes for a very long time, may progress farther and faster for its inclusion.

If you just focus on the issue of Turkey itself, this is also not an easy yes or no. At least, not for me. Turkey has become perhaps increasingly relevant on the world stage, and I was impressed by some of its behavior during the leadup and early period during the Iraq War (II). There are issues that disturb me about Turkey, too, although I don't feel fluent enough in the specific politics to lay them out intelligently.

Some of my hedging here is not even about Turkey itself, but a bit of discomfort with the idea of the EU. The older I get and the more I read, the less convinced I am that governments, corporations, and quasi-corporate multi-governmental organizations are good for living things. Insert weary grin here.

Finally, as for Daniel's comment about Chirac possibly not making these comments for all the right reasons, I suspect he's right.