I came across an interesting website page today, which describes the reported progress towards the admission of Turkey into the European Union. Whilst many observers simply throw their hands up while asking ‘Why start this process, when there are so many obstacles’, I feel we should be looking at how the process has got this far, and the chances of a unaninmous decision from the political leaders of the 27 states which form the Union to accept the new giant into their midst.
There are 35 chapters to the ‘Acquis Communautaire’, which is the rule book for states wishing to join, and they encompass every aspect of life, from ‘Free Movement of goods’ to ‘Financial and Budgetary Provisions’, and I am also happy to state that of the thirty-five chapters, so far a grand total of five areas are virtually accepted, ‘considerable difficulty’ is being felt with twelve chapters; five more are found to be ‘very hard to adopt’ and two chapters are felt to be ‘Totally Incompatible with Acquis Communautaire’.
Now I personally have no great like or dislike for Turkey as a Nation-State, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the people who actually live there are comprised of some 99% Muslims, I wouldn’t be so unhappy if they came aboard. They would immediately replace Germany as the most populous State of the Union, which would piss Germany off something rotten, and would also really get up France’s nose as well, which to my own mind are perfectly laudable initiatives, but; and there always has to be a ‘but’, they are unfortunately 99% muslim.
So why, must we ask, are we inviting full cousins of the people who flew aircraft into Manhattan skyscrapers to join the E.U? Why are we, as a political and economic powerhouse inviting 70-odd million of the poorest people in the Middle East into our midst? Were we told, for example, during the tiresome preambles, in seventeen different languages, before the various Treaties which broadened this undemocratic E.U. State that the planners were preparing to invite some 70-million muslims into our streets, villages, highways and byways?
When the Cold War was at it’s peak, Turkey was a valued member of N.A.T.O., and there were good reasons for her membership. She was a well-armed country, and she straddled two vital water avenues, namely the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, which give access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea. Millions of dollars were pumped into the Turkish economy, and the N.A.T.O. member countries received value for money, because the Russian Bear was stopped cold by the fact that the Turks could sink anything which poked it’s nose into Turkish waters without blinking, and so the egress into the Mediterranean warm waters, so precious a commodity for the Communists, was denied that rapacious bunch of cut-throats!
But that, my friends, was a military alliance, and although it still exists today, it bears no relationship to membership of the European Union. We don’t want them, they pray to a different god, and listen to a different set of drum-beats! Long may the imbalanced Chapters remain!