"Arab Reaction Dulls
Turkey's EU Inroads
Middle East Is Ambivalent
About Membership Talks
That Could Bridge Divide
By HUGH POPE and DAN BILEFSKY
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 20, 2004; Page A13
The U.S. and some European leaders hailed Turkey's big step Friday toward membership in the European Union as a new bridge between Islam and the West. But in much of the Middle East itself, the breakthrough was seen as having little immediate effect on the region's morass of interlocking religious, political and economic problems.
While thousands of flag-waving Turks welcomed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan home from Brussels as a hero for anchoring Turkey's medium-term future in Europe, commentators from Damascus to Morocco had mixed reactions to Turkey's hard-won, formal invitation from European Union leaders to start full membership talks next October."
WSJ.com - Arab Reaction Dulls Turkey's EU Inroads
