Pope Backs Turkey's Bid for EU
Wednesday November 29, 2006
In an apparent effort to placate Muslims who are not happy with him, Pope Benedict XVI said on Tuesday that he supports Turkey's entrance into the European Union. He made the statement shortly after his arrival in the capital of Ankara. This reverses the Pope's statement against ascension he made two years ago; the New York Times has more.
Comments
Both, you and the NYT are wrong. It was now uncovered that Turkey’s prime minister altered the pope’s wishes for a rapprochement of Turkey and the EU into a statement pro Turkey membership. Instead of reproducing Turkish propaganda, you should have written an article on the recent failures of Turkey to fulfill EU’s membership criteria (e.g. blocking Turkish harbours for Cypriot ships). Turkey will never become a full EU member.
As a half-Turk, I think that the Pope made the statement in order to go against estremists’ wishes. In response to Mr Ott, Cyprus blocked Turkish ships carrying refugees from docking in Cypriot ports during the Lebanon crisis. My opinion is that Turkey does not need the EU and if it were to join, it would constantly face the prejudice that it already does from European nations.