Turkey has been trying to enter the EU (European Union) for a long time. Because the EU presents opportunities such as in those European countries there is no visa problem, therefore anybody can travel or work in those countries. In Turkey, there are many people who do not want to enter the EU as well as people who really want to enter the EU. There are many discussions about it for a long time in and outside of Turkey. Actually, many Turkish people do not know what would happen if Turkey were accepted to the EU, economically and socially.
Many conservative people do not want to enter the EU because they think that new generations will be affected morally by other European nations such as losing Turkish custom. However, it is good for the unemployed people because in case of entering the EU, Turkish people can find jobs in different sectors in the European countries.
Those ideas belong to Turkish people, then why was Turkey not accepted the EU? There are several reasons such as the population of Turkey, or the young population ration in the population, or the increasing population of Turkey. The population of Turkey is 75 million. The dominant generation is young, and even though the government is secular, more than 95% of people are Muslim. If Turkey were accepted, it would be the first Muslim country in the EU. Like many Turkish people, I do not know what is going to happen if Turkey was accepted but it seems to me that it would help the economy of Turkey.
As for my point of view about secularism in Turkey, it is in progress. “Secularism” is separation of government and religion. However, there is “Religious Affairs Ministry” under the control of the government. This is a kind of contradiction to secularism. Also, it is really hard to separate these two things from each other because the religion of Turkey, which is Islam for approximately 12 centuries, gives orders about daily life like the government, and these orders sometimes go against each other. It seems to me that Turkey needs time regarding secularism.
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This is an interesting post. There doesn't seem to be an easy answer to whether or not Turkey should be part of the EU. Since Europe is becoming increasingly secular and non-religious, it seems contradictory for the EU to not allow Turkey in partly because of religion. I know this seems to be a contradiction, but wouldn't it make sense for Europe, if they are becoming more and more secular, to allow Turkey to be part of the EU, thus encouraging a more secular society?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Europe is secular. However, they do not say that ok we are secular but most people in Turkey are muslims and we do not accept you because of this reason. They just suspend and postpone the meetings about the entering EU.
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