Young Turks do not like the EU

About a month ago I posted my thoughts about Turkishness and its compatibility with the European project. In the linked article I asserted that there are many factors about the Turkish mindset that make membership in the Union less than desirable (for Turks more than anyone else). I also said that the overt Turkish nationalism that I termed Turkishness is incompatible with the Universalist drive for a European superstate that is the EU. Sadly my previous post was not backed by anything else but my own perceptions and experience and a bit of logic that connected the dots. No books, newspaper articles or interviews conducted with genuine Turks were cited and it made me feel a little bad about the whole thing.

My distress was very much relieved when I discovered that my perceptions and logic weren't that unfounded. Reuters reports that young Turks are thinking in very much the way I described. Here are some quotes from the article:

'What do I think of the European Union?' Danacioglu, 20, said in a throng of Istanbul traffic. 'Make Istanbul the capital of the European Union and then I'd support it.'

Danacioglu, who works as a taxi driver, says it is more important to be proud of being Turkish than to pretend to be European, and surveys suggest many others in Turkey's huge and growing youth population feel the same.

That bodes poorly for Turkey's already troubled EU accession bid as a study in May showed that young people, once touted by Turkish politicians as an asset for aging Europe, are the group where opposition to joining the European bloc is strongest.

And there is more:

Brussels wants Turkey to limit the power of the army, improve free speech, grant more rights to minorities and adopt and implement 80,000 pages of European laws and regulations ranging from the environment to food safety. These reforms are painful and require sustained support from public opinion.

Read the whole thing, it's well worth it.

PS: Strangely enough me and few of my classmates were speaking about Turkic nations, Westernisation and EU today and then I came home and found this article. Might be a nice example of Jungian synchronicity.

Comments

[Gregor]

'My distress was very much relieved when I discovered that my perceptions and logic weren't that unfounded. Reuters reports that young Turks are thinking in very much the way I described.'

Hi Leos
Interesting article. But don't be too surprised if you are right about a surprising amount of political/ cultural trends compared to professional 'op ed' people. I've discovered myself that if you are not surrounded by idiots who praise 'moral courage' and 'love of freedom' for trusting third rate confidence tricksters (that's you Messrs Saakashvilli and Chalibi) it is often difficult to be WRONG about things. ;-)