Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017
by cm2187 on Monday April 17, 2017 @11:27AM
(#14131603)
Hum. There are people who think he used the EU membership as a way of leverage against the military. Turkey couldn't be part of the EU with this military threat, so it had to tame its military to be accepted as a modern democracy. This enabled Erdogan to progressively regain control over the army helped with the pressure from the EU, eliminating the remaining counter-power to islamism in Turkey. I think the EU has been a useful idiot in this process. Now a EU membership is out of question on the EU side and Turkey doesn't show any sign of being interested anymore anyway.
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"Democracy is just the train, but not the final destination.", is a AKP slogan I remember from a documentary on Erdogans long road to power.
I would also support the opinion that Erdogan used the EU integration process to selectively weaken the kemalist/military grip on Turkey's institutions. While you could point out that the EU were a 'useful idiot', IMHO there was never a realistic chance of Turkey joining the EU. The reasons are multifold, most important ones being the resistance of the EU population in major EU countries such as Germany, France and Poland. In that regard, I think, EU politics were not on an honest basis and just a game.
Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017
by dreamcompiler on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @01:23AM
(#14136676)
I had also assumed that Turkey's occupation of Cyprus, its refusal to take responsibility for the Armenian genocide, and its antipathy toward the Kurds were additional dealbreakers for EU membership.
Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017
by lightedman on Monday April 17, 2017 @12:48PM
(#14132390)
"There are people who think he used the EU membership as a way of leverage against the military"
Those people are obviously not Turkish. The military, by its founding from Ataturk, gives ZERO damns about membership, in fact they were pretty much established to STOP various forms of state 'membership' including religious.