Why the E.U. has turned against us

last updated 8 January 2015

Turkey

Bekir Coskun

“Turkey’s E.U. dream is over,” said Bekir Coskun in Istanbul’s Hurriyet. The French and Dutch rejection of the E.U. constitution was unmistakably a rejection of the prospect of Turkish E.U. membership. And we have only ourselves to blame. In 2002, Turkish voters had a crucial choice between “joining the Western civilization as a democratic, contemporary country” or reverting to the past. We chose the past. We elected an overtly Islamic party to lead the government. For the past two years, Europeans have seen the fruits of that government—more women wearing head scarves, a prime minister who speaks no European languages and talks about sharia. It doesn’t look like modern Turkey anymore, it “resembles Iran.” No wonder the French and Dutch—not to mention the Germans—don’t want us in their union. In a way, we rejected them first. Now “our dream of having a civilized society has collapsed.”