Bekir Coskun: Some thoughts on the EU and Turkey

People ask me when they meet up with me whether or not the EU will take Turkey into its folds. I know that I actually no nothing on this subject. And so I start to talk, talking about Turkey's history, going back a hundred, two hundred years. And their eyes glaze over, and after awhile, they stop listening. All I know is something I wrote here in this column following the November 3 general assembly elections: With your votes, you rejected the EU....Instead of being a people running towards civilization, you offered up Turkey to a religious mentality. It wasn't long after I wrote this that the winds of Arab culture began to blow in Turkey, replacing any Western civilization. From the way people greet eachother all the way to pictures of the government....Everything has changed. Instead of our "Secular Turkish Republic" identity, we now have a "Moderate Islamic Republic." Everyone from the US to the United Nations uses this phrase in meetings where we are discussed. You voted for a prime minister who does not agree with the state on secularity, and who choses to educate his daughters in the US because of the turbans they wear on their heads. You chose a foreign minister who brought Turkey to the European Human Rights Court because of the turban worn by his wife. Pay attention: In the last meetings of the EU, it is not a "secular" country which is being argued over and discussed, but a "Muslim" country. *****Of course the society of Turkey is mostly "Muslim." In terms of their beliefs, traditions, and as they were brought up to be, and are freely. And no one can or should say anything about this. But if the secular repulic, formed after 1,001 battles fought by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, gives up its title to become a "moderate Islamic" republic on a second's notice, we will see the results of this sooner or later. The talks may start with the EU. But as you can see from the latest blockades, invented at the last moment, the door to the EU is actually closing on us. Our run towards the EU was a run towards civilization.... But with your votes on November 3, you rejected this. Â