ANSWERS: 11
  • Since Ataturk made major reforms to Turkey in the early to mid 20th century, Turkey has been a secular state, meaning it cannot be ruled by leaders of any particular religious denomination. Ataturk also revolutionised the language to use european script rather than arabic and employed european designers and architects to work on many of the cities. He is known as the 'founder of modern turkey' and is on all the banknotes. Most of modern Turkey's culture and aspirations still reflect Ataturk and his vision. Ataturk strongly believed that Turkey should be a part of Europe, and current Turkish politics also takes this overall view. As to whether or not Turkey is generally considered a part of Europe from the European point of view is a subject of hot debate, and I think it would be fair to say that opinion within Europe and the EU is currently divided. Historically, Turkey is surprisingly European, for example Istanbul used to be called Constantinople, after the Roman emperor constantine, and was the capital of the Roman Empire for many years, even more important to the Romans than Rome itself. Turkey is, and always has been a crossroads between Africa/the middle east in the South and East, and Europe and Russia in the North and West, although for the last 50 years Turkey's eyes have been mostly Westwards.
  • The short answer: because the government wants it to be. I won't go into detail about Ataturk, because that has already been done very well by somebody else. It is very true that, since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has looked westward, become a secular state, and the prevailing powers really do want to project a European image. As a result, plenty of Turks have started to consider themselves European. There are also lots of places that are geographically and culturally closer to their Arab neighbors. They prefer tradition and religion to this push for secularization. I was particularly struck by a travel program (Rick Steeves, I believe) where a Western Turkish guide escorted him through Eastern Turkey. The guide was blonde, suntanned, dressed in skimpy clothing... she wouldn't have been at all out of place in any Western country. But in every place they visited (and they covered a fair amount of territory), they found Turks in traditional dress, Muslim headscarves and all. Barely distinguishable from Syria, just across the border... So Turkey itself presents a wide range of opinions, although the government seems fairly unified behind the "we are European" position. The rest of Europe isn't as enthusiastic, though. Turkey has been trying to join the European Union for quite some time now, and they've just been disappointed yet again.
  • Turkey is frozen between two worlds. Turkish language borrows a couple of words from Persian and some of their culture, it does not mean they have deep ties to the Middle East. The Republic of Turkey connects Europe and Asia. It also bridges the divide between ancient empires and modern worlds. Turkey is a member of NATO, but it shares a border with Iraq, Iran, and Syria. It is a largely Islamic society, but it has long rejected religious rule in favor of a secular government. That secular government has never been free enough to please the West...yet the very existence of a secular government outrages Islamic extremists. http://globalization.about.com/library/weekly/aa101101a.htm
  • No. Only Turkey considers itself a European country. The country is actually, technically, a Middle Eastern country and the ME is located in Asia. No one in Asia cares where Turkey is..it's just that Turkey desperately needs to get into a trading bloc and wants to rid their past as "Turks" who have a history way back somewhere Northwest of China and West of Mongola...Remember the Huns and Turgols....those nomadic tribes that always fought with the Chinese. I guess it doesn't help that their long-time "God and idol" Mustafa Kemal helped the country into an identity crisis... Oh well. I mean...with this argument...Korea should just be part of Europe too...it borders a gi-normous European nation and another gi-normous Asian country.... I mean...if Turkey is the bridge (and if Turkey is located in Europe) isn't Iran technically a bridge too then? Why not 2 bridges...it looks like Russians like Persians more than they like Turks...especially since the Turks sold out to some European countries and US as a "strategic" hot-spot to keep Russia on guard (NATO) during WW's... Oh....wait...it's now the "strategic" bridge between Middle East/Asia and the West....right.....I forgot. I digress. Give me that "strategic bridge between two worlds" bullshit.
  • because it's politically more reliable for Turkey to consider themselves Europeans...? You could say the same about Russia... With absolutely no offence to Asians, when it comes to politics, especially in the "terror" world of today, it seems more appealing to say you are European than Asian.
  • EU just doesnt want turkey because majority of turkish people are muslimm and you know obviously all muslims are fundamentalists and terrorists
  • 1) There is no division between Europe and Asia, from a geographical point of view: "The division of the landmass of Eurasia into the continents of Asia and Europe is an anomaly, as no sea separates them. The distinction is maintained for historical and cultural reasons." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents 2) Considering the accepted continental division, a part of Turkey belongs to Europe. In this sense, Turkey is an European country (but also an Asian one): "Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey 3) There is an ongoing discussion about the participation of Turkey to the European Union: "Turkey's formal application to join the European Community—the organization that has since developed into the European Union—was made on 14 April, 1987. Turkey has been a European Union (then the European Economic Community) associate member since 1963. Turkey is also a member of the Council of Europe since 1949, a founding member of the OECD since 1961, a founding member of the OSCE since 1973 and an associate member of the Western European Union since 1992. Turkey signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership on December 12th, 1999 at the Helsinki summit of the European Council. Negotiations were started on 3 October, 2005, and the process is likely to take at least a decade to complete. The membership bid has become the central controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union Further information: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=13153 4) "The territory of the EU is not the same as that of Europe, as parts of the continent are outside the EU, such as Switzerland, Norway and European Russia. Some parts of member countries are not part of the EU, despite forming part of the European continent (for example the Channel Islands and Faroe Islands). Several territories associated with member states that are outside geographic Europe are also not part of the EU (such as Greenland, Aruba, the Netherlands Antilles and all the non-European territories associated with the United Kingdom). Some overseas territories are part of the EU even if they are not geographically part of Europe, such as the Azores, the Canary Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union#Geography
  • Turkey straddles the Bosphorus, the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia, so it is really in both. Culturally and religiously, it belongs to the Middle East, but its national philosophy is more European and has distanced Turkey from its Muslim neighbours.
  • I think Turkey, if they would reach the EU should recognize the Armenian genocid. Moreover I don't think that it is because there are lots of muslims in Turkey that they are no match for achieve their goal but simply because if Turkey join the EU,it would become the Biggest countrie in the EU, before Germany...and to my mind,they can't accept this issue.
  • to Anonnymous... you have no idea about Türkiye,you r just talkin about the stuff you read on the papers or magazines...i wanna ask you something.i dont know where you r from but just tell me the capitalcity of Australia.. i m sure about that you say Sydney as anyone do.. why? because the only city you wath on tv and read on the papers is Sydney...But the answer is Canberrra.. what you hear or what you see is not what it seems.You need to find out somethng more about Türkiye..And please check papers more and learn something... but first you need to know Canberra
  • Probably because the founding principle were based on the Swiss code and its desire (or the desire of Ataturk) for it to be seen as part of the West and not part of the Arab world.

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