"West Should Welcome Turkey
By Max Boot
Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2004
For most Americans, the most important day this month is Dec. 25. For Turks, it's tomorrow, Dec. 17. That's the day that the European Union will announce whether it will open full membership negotiations with Turkey.
In contrast to the ambivalence that surrounds the EU in most of its member states, Turks seem to be, almost without exception, enthusiastic about falling under the sway of a Brussels bureaucracy. EU membership is widely expected to deliver an economic windfall in the form of greater trade and subsidies.
More broadly, joining the EU would fulfill the vision of Kemal Ataturk, the army general who created the modern Turkish republic out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in 1923. Ataturk, who is almost a deity in modern Turkey (his portrait adorns not only every government office but also almost every shop and home), wanted to modernize his country. Thus he substituted European hats and suits for fezzes and robes, and he adopted the Latin alphabet in place of Arabic letters. Having Turkey officially join Europe, notwithstanding the fact that 95% of its territory is located in Asia, would be the ultimate affirmation of Kemalism."
More:CFR Publications: West Should Welcome Turkey
