Why and why not?
My opinion is not until 2015 because of the ethnical problems with Balkanian countries. Things seem just to have to calm down. 8 years are enough.

I voted no, but if the option "not yet" was available I would have chosen that option. I think that Turkey itself doesn't know what it wants yet. There is tension between government and military about the separation of religion and state and as some reports say the human rights are not optimal yet.

If internally Turkey is more stable I wouldn't mind them entering the union.

Jeroen

i voted yes but they have to meet the same requirements as any other applicant. i believe they're moving in the right direction while other countries that are already part of the EU, like Poland, are going backward.

i don't think they should be rejected because they're -mostly- muslims, as long as there's a separation of church and state, and human rights are respected.

i don't think they should be rejected because they're not part of the european continent. i think that's a lame excuse. i don't see why we couldn't decide that, from now on, the EU should be about common principles instead of common continent.

I think it would benefit Turkey in a lot of ways. For me, the question is, "Will the EU let Turkey join?" even if Turkey is able to take care of all the preliminary requirements it has been given.

Thumbs up. After these last twenty years, relationships between Western democracies and Islamic countries have strained almost to the point of breakage and war, and reached it in more than a case. By making Turkey join EU, European countries could demonstrate that we are not intrinsically against Muslims and Muslim countries, and are indeed open to be friends or at least colleagues.

Europe more than anybody else should know how it functions. Germans and French were not exactly best pals some time ago - until they found out that treating and making business are better ways to settle issues than fighting political, religious and economical wars. Time to export a successful peace model, I daresay

I agree with c.dric. It's not only a question of geography, but principles. If Turkey really is a democracy and there is a separation between the state and the religion, then it should be ok.

There are millions of Turkish people living and working in Germany and other countries and contributing to the construction of EU for a long time.

But even if they met the requirements and their people live and work in Europe, is Europe itself ready to enlarge it's frontiers to the Iraqi and Sirian borders. Is EU ready to deal with the problems that having real muslims neighbors might bring?

At this time I think that it isn't. So I voted No.

I went with 'No' as well, but I would've chosen 'Not Yet' if possible.

Yes, they do have a buoyant economy, which is nice. But their political situation still seems rather unstable, their treatment of the Kurds is still pretty nasty, and let's not forget Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus is a part of the EU, but Turkey still breaks with all other countries and the United Nations in not recognizing their sovereignty of the whole island and have relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This problem needs solving before they can join the EU.

Rhapsody is right. The Cyprus question is fundamental if Turkey really want's to become part of EU.

I voted no, and it's not the Islamic issue, it can't be or my neighbors would stop talking to me LOL...

heir government is not stable enough. Just a few weeks ago the Army announced that it was unhappy about the nominated president. Low and behold a court decided that the last election was null and void. Great step forward for democracy that one. Who runs the country the army or the elected government???

Also, how do we define what is Europe? Where should the boundaries be? Russia, Turkey, North Africa and my personal favorite UK... Ok Ok I know that the UK is in the EU I just wish it wasn't LOL

But seriously how long before Syria, or Lebanon? how about Israel??? Or maybe Morocco? Libya?? What makes Europe, Europe? Geography? Culture? Ethnicity? Sure as hell not language, we have four in the UK alone (was 5 but the English killed off Kernwick)

There should be an "I don't know" since I don't know why it should join, or why it shouldn't. But it would be nice to have better relationships between Europe and Muslims.

Extreme Coder

I don't think Turkey should join. Mostly because the government seems too temperamental. It lacks tolerance. Maybe one day, but not unless serious changes are made in the near future.

I voted yes, but only as long as Turkey abides by the same standards of human rights etc as all other EU members. I don't see why the seperation of church and state is any more of a problem for Turkey (islamic) than it is for some European countries that are inseperable from their church (christian). Sounds a bit like religious bias However the church and state should be seperate, and the same standards applied to "Christian" countries. For example, technically the UK is ruled by the HEAD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND! Britain should not be allowed in the EU until we get rid of the monarchy and get ourselves a written constitution

Well said. I am Cypriot. One other thing. What is Americas buisiness if EU accepts Turkey or not? Why does America always interfere with other ppls buisiness Iraq and so on. And im not talking about the american ppl. I mean the goverment.

"Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" No such thing exists or will ever exist.

no, definitely not. i live in vienna and you see very clearly that the cultural and social differences are too high. please don't get me wrong. i'm not a racist but i think turkey is not yet able to achieve the social status which is practised currently in most of europe.

turkey is more asia than europe. (well, i think this statement will arouse a discussion, too )

I voted no. My opinion is that the EU first should integrate all the new eastern European members. This will take a wile. The integration of the new member states was a politically decision made by the EU commission and the member governments but nobody asked the people. All the problems with totally different wages/incomes if you cross the border to the new members.
Let the new members integrate themselves first, reform the EU commission/institution - juggernaut and then think of EU expansion towards turkey.

And there is still a question ??? I'm Bulgarian. We've been 500 year under Turkish slavary. We're a free country since 1878 year. And still we can't get rid of all the Turkish in Bulgaria. My opinion is defenatly NO, because of the country itself, because of the religion, because of the people, because of the language because of everything !!! They are not ready, and I think they woln't be ever. Cause they are from a different world , with differnet understanding of the world. And one more thing , I can't say Turkey is a European country!]

Edit: Not written by the same person as the thread beginner.

Здрасти пич!
You are too harsh. You could express your opinion in a more polite way. Further more, I suggest you to work your English - improve it to a better level, because now it looks really like "foreign language" for you.
Second, about this topic: absolutely no. It is not about the slavery. It is about the cultural differences between Europe and Asia. And Turkey is too far away from European culture. Or at least it doesn't want to accept the European culture. I really don't know - but personally, I wouldn't allow Turkey to become a member of EU. It is just not ready for it.

You want to get rid of all the Turkish in Bulgaria ?
I'm guessing this is just a bad choice of words because it sounds a lot like ethnic cleansing.

Basically I do not know, so I did not vote. I have nothing against personally, i've read quite a bit of infos on the subject some time ago. None of the arguments, either way, convinced me.

But I would favor a yes, as letting people, countries etc. aside is not the best way to make things evolve.

Много добре се изказа: Евала от мене Малко бях надъхан от това клипче
About the english, I'll do my best to improve it as much as I can