A standoff threatens EU-Turkey negotiation

[Inland]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/29/news/eu.php

LONDON The European Union failed Thursday to agree on the terms for membership negotiations with Turkey, forcing Britain to call an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Sunday, the eve of the planned start of the talks.

A meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels broke up after Austria stood alone among all 25 EU countries to insist that the Union could open talks next Monday only if a clear alternative to full membership were offered.

The failure to reach consensus throws into the open the tensions within Europe about admitting Turkey, a large poor country that would be the EU's first Muslim member.

***********************

[BrklynLiberal]

1. The Vatican doe NOT want Turkey to be in the EU..and they will do

ANYTHING to make sure it does not happen. The Vatican believes that the EU should be kept strictly "Christian".

The Crusades were not thorough enough.

The latest condition that the Vatican has managed to put forth is that Turkey must formally admit to the Armenian Genocide in order to be admitted to the EU.

[Julius Civitatus]

2. I don't think Turkey should be part of the EU either

This is not a left-right issue, or religious issue. This is about about a country that has a horrible record of human right abuses, and continues to do so with impunity. And yes, Turkey should ADMIT for once that they massacred one million innocent Armenians in the most sadistic of fashions. Nearly 100 years after the tragedy that nearly wiped out an entire culture, Turkey would not even admit it happened. It's a shame, but typical behavior from Turkey.

Turkey is not ready to join the EU. Either they change their practices radically, or they stay out. Period.

Check out today's NY Times, for a little example of what's common in Turkey:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/international/europe/29turkey.html

It will break your heart.

[Inland]

3. I don't think it's Vatican pull

Vatican, for one, isn't an EU member, and as the article states, there's some machination involving Austria.

There is divided opinion about Turkey. It's big, it's poor, and it remains a secular state only because it thwarts the will of the people.

Besides, the Armenian genocide sticks in the craw of a lot of people, particularly those who see a repetition in the Kurds.

Fact is, nobody knows for sure if admitting Turkey is going to be a good thing or not, whether it will bring Turkey into a modern european world or blow it up.