It´s a funny thing how seriously some of the more negative views about Turkey´s possible membership in the European Union has been taken. When Jacques Chirac talks about a possible French referendum of whether France would support Turkey´s membership when the negotiations are finished, the analysts doesn´t seem to understand that when we get as far, it maybe the year 2015 or 2020. Jacques Chirac is either dead or a frail, very old man then. Nicholas Sarkozy, the young star of the French right, could be a revered (or loathed) old ex-president, busily writing his memoirs. The current politicians are gone. What they say now is of no consequence when the time comes to decide whether Turkey will become a member of EU or not. Jacques Chirac is talking propaganda and his audience is the people back home, just now. Same goes with the Austrians.

I support the negotiations, because they are a way of making Turkey more democratic and less autocratic, and getting the government to stop the discrimination of the Kurds, to stop the use of torture and making officials accountable for their crimes, and of course raising eastern Turkey from the deep poverty in which it is.

Some articles and columns:

Turkey's date with destiny
Turkey moves closer to EU
EU Membership Offers Hope for Turkey's Kurds
EU Door Finally Opens for Turkey
How European is Europe?
Outside View: Turkey's questions and answers