82% of French people against Turkey accession to EU

[Gadjodilo]

i think it is arrogant on your behalf to call french people racist just for wanting to preserve there own culture.

islam is a religion that openly encourages sectarianism
and as a result turkish people naturaly will not fit into european culture in any way, just look at germany which has a high level of turkish living there, they dont integrate, they little regard for the rule of Law, and they hole themselves up in turkish ghettos and hardly ever integrate.

is this what we realy want in Ireland...?

we face enough challenges in the future as it is with the already too high proportion of immigrants, we simply can not sustain another mass influx, it would be the final nail in the coffin for Ireland.

I think you're doing a major disservice to French culture by suggesting it's so feeble and weak that the accession of one country to the EU will lead to its destruction!

As for Germany, do you not think that the lack of integration might be to do with German attitudes and the historical requirement that you needed to be of German blood to get citizenship?

Individual Moslems may encourage sectarianism but Islam does it no more than any other religion.

[Trampas]

you'd be hard put to find a more secular state than Turkey.

Nonsense. The ruling AKP has deep roots in a banned islamist party. PM Erdogan has served a prison sentence for inciting religious hatred. President Gul's wife wears a headscarf
in public buildings. Mustapha Kemal's secular state is a memory.

[IrishTom]

Of course Turkey will have to adhere to wider EU standards. There's no suggestion that they'll be allowed to join without fulfilling all the chapters.

As regards separation of church and state, you'd be hard put to find a more secular state than Turkey. It's hilarious to see an Irish person lecturing the Turks on this issue.

are you touched in the head or something..?

there has been a seperation of church and state in Ireland for decades now.
turkey is anything but secular, it is an islamic nation and an islamic society, this will not ever gel with the judeo-christian society we live in.

islam by its nature is a confrontational and sectarian religion, just look at what happened when that fella posted a drawing of mohammed in a news paper, he was killed, that carry on will never and should never be tolerated in a civilised society.

[Rocky]

Wouldn't necessarily say that but the accession of Turkey as a full member (they are already an "associate member" will not happen anytime soon if ever

Turkey's accession talks have been dogged by a number of domestic and external problems. Several European states such as Austria have made their reluctance to allow Turkey into Europe clear. The issue of Cyprus continues to be a major obstacle to negotiations. European officials have commented on the slowdown in Turkish reforms which, combined with the Cyprus problem, has led previously to the EU’s enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn to warn of an impeding ‘train crash’ in negotiations with Turkey. Due to these setbacks, negotiations again came to a halt in December 2006, with the EU freezing talks in 8 of the 35 key areas under negotiation.

The earliest date that Turkey could enter the EU is 2013, the date when the next financial perspectives (the EU's six year budgetary perspectives) will come into force. Ankara is currently aiming to comply with EU law by this date, but Brussels has refused to back 2013 as a deadline. It is believed that the accession process will take at least until 2021 .... and that is IF accession actually does proceed to occur.

In addition to the Austrians, the French are very reluctant for Turkey's entry, evidenced by the OP and even by the remarks of French President Sarkozy in 2007 which were "enlarging Europe with no limit risks destroying European political union, and that I do not accept...I want to say that Europe must give itself borders, that not all countries have a vocation to become members of Europe, beginning with Turkey which has no place inside the European Union."

Forward track in time to Obama and his pro Turkey get into the EU stance

As you outline there quite well Turkey is a long way away from EU membership. I would be in favour of eventual Turkish membership of the EU, I think it would make Europe a lot stronger politically and economically. However is a long way from being ready and to be honest there is real sign of it getting closer. The army isn’t as strong as they once were, which is something, but it is still a long way away. Cyprus is also a major issue and it can't be let in until that problem is solved.

Long term ambition definitely, but to be honest I don’t think Turkish membership is in any way a realistic short-term prospect.

[IrishTom]

I think you're doing a major disservice to French culture by suggesting it's so feeble and weak that the accession of one country to the EU will lead to its destruction!

As for Germany, do you not think that the lack of integration might be to do with German attitudes and the historical requirement that you needed to be of German blood to get citizenship?

Individual Moslems may encourage sectarianism but Islam does it no more than any other religion.

dont try to tell me what islam teaches, i have studied it and i know what the koran teaches and it is unlike anything else in existance in regards its demand for war and blood of the infidels.

the lack of integration is the turkish peoples choice not the germans, you seem to be very ignorant of the facts on every issue here, take your head out of the clouds and examine islaimc society in the world, then see if that fits in with western society norms.

[Trampas]

I would be in favour of eventual Turkish membership of the EU, I think it would make Europe a lot stronger politically and economically.

Yes, 50 million Anatolian peasants should do the trick. Then of course Turkey will provide all the labour we need. Oh wait.......

The army isn’t as strong as they once were, which is something

There goes the sole guardian of that once secular state.

Cyprus is also a major issue and it can't be let in until that problem is solved.

At this stage Cyprus is little more than a bargaining chip for Ankara. The issue can be resolved very quickly.

[Gadjodilo]

Nonsense. The ruling AKP has deep roots in a banned islamist party. PM Erdogan has served a prison sentence for inciting religious hatred. President Gul's wife wears a headscarf
in public buildings. Mustapha Kemal's secular state is a memory.

Are you seriously suggesting that a headscarf can make turn a state into an Islamist state?

The state is still secular. A significant proportion of the populace might be pro-Islamic but a signficant proportion is very loudly secular. And the judges and military where the power lies are staunchly secular. That's why his party which is quite moderate was banned. You should know that such a hard line against moderate Islamic politicians is one of the main criticisms levelled at Turkey by the EU.

[Gadjodilo]

dont try to tell me what islam teaches, i have studied it and i know what the koran teaches and it is unlike anything else in existance in regards its demand for war and blood of the infidels.

the lack of integration is the turkish peoples choice not the germans, you seem to be very ignorant of the facts on every issue here, take your head out of the clouds and examine islaimc society in the world, then see if that fits in with western society norms.

Well then, go and read the Bible and see how it approves of the smiting of various non-believing populations. There's far more sectarianism in the Bible than in the Koran.

And it's practised. The US has been doing lots of smiting of late in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[pete2]

The racism on show here is disturbing. The problem isn't Turks, the problem is the freedom of movement ideal. The entire EU (as it currently stands) could move here tomorrow and nobody in authority could prevent it. Massive 'freedom of movement' aka Mass immigration from any quarter is just not sustainable by this small island society. Loss of border control for EU members is a problem which the EU elites need to revisit, then a lot of the worries over Turkish accession would disappear.

[Gadjodilo]

are you touched in the head or something..?

there has been a seperation of church and state in Ireland for decades now.
turkey is anything but secular, it is an islamic nation and an islamic society, this will not ever gel with the judeo-christian society we live in.

islam by its nature is a confrontational and sectarian religion, just look at what happened when that fella posted a drawing of mohammed in a news paper, he was killed, that carry on will never and should never be tolerated in a civilised society.

So, we have separation of church and state, do we? Who runs nearly all the national schools? The Roman Catholic Church. Whose ethos is followed in the vast majority of the hospitals? Ditto. You don't get that it Turkey.

You're confusing public attitudes in Turkey with state policy. The public is mainly Muslim but the state is still staunchly secular.