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Democratisation / Comment

Why those who oppose Turkey's EU membership bid are wrong

13/05/2008 By Ingmar Karlsson

Turkey entered into a customs union with the EU in 1996 and its candidacy for membership of the EU was confirmed in Helsinki in 1999.On 3 October 2005, EU member states agreed to start formal membership negotiations with Turkey.

When accession talks where secured in Helsinki, Turkey was in a deep economic and political crisis and many member states thought that the promise to open negotiations could be given since Turkey would not be able to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria. Ingmar Karlsson argues that those opposed to Turkey’s membership were obviously surprised by the reform policy of the new AKP-government and now talk less about the country’s “EU maturity” and the fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria.

Instead they argue that the EU cannot absorb a new member the size of Turkey and that Turkey is not a European country. They also affi rm that Turkish membership would cause serious geopolitical and strategic problems and, last but not least, that the EU is a community based on Christian values. In this article Ingmar Karlsson argues why those who oppose Turkey's EU membership bid are wrong.

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Keywords

Democracy promotion Enlargement EU Europe European Neighbourhood Policy Turkey

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Bio author: Ingmar Karlsson

Ingmar Karlsson is Sweden’s Consul General in Istanbul, Turkey. He has published several books on a variety of subjects including Islam and Europe. He regularly publishes in the Swedih newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.