"Richard S Ehrlich: Turkey Political
Friday, 23 June 2006, 2:47 pm
Opinion: Richard S. Ehrlich
Turkey Political
by Richard S. Ehrlich
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- 'Ten or 15 years ago, we had Romanian girls in Istanbul selling their bodies as prostitutes,' said Hassan, an office worker in Istanbul's old Sultan Ahmet neighborhood.
'You remember those days?' he asked his colleague, Rasheed, who snickered at the memory.
'Now Romania can join the EU ahead of Turkey,' Hassan lamented. 'Why?
'I don't believe Romania, or even Bulgaria, are something better than Turkey. They are also nice countries. But it is only because Turkey is Muslim that the EU treats us like this.'
Schizoid Turkey, physically split between Europe and Asia by the Bosphorus Strait, flaunts a bizarre response to such cynical outbursts."
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