Turkey's EU membership and religious freedom
Release Date: Mon 13th Oct 08
According to Ankara’s MetroPOLL research centre, in May 2008, 62% of Turks stated that they would vote for Turkey to join the European Union. Turkey could potentially be ready to join the EU in 2013. In 2004, the Turkish ‘yes’ vote was 66% but fell to only 30% in 2006, following accession controversy within the EU. France in particular has insisted that Ukraine is a more typically ‘European’ country and has recently introduced legislation requiring a popular referendum to be held in the case of large countries trying to join the EU. Eurobarometer surveys also suggest that there are several countries that would vote against Turkey’s membership of the EU.
EU accession talks with Turkey continue in June in the areas of intellectual property rights and company law. Eight other areas cannot yet be addressed due to Turkey’s trade dispute with EU member Cyprus.
Critics of Turkey’s application for EU membership point to Turkey’s failure to adequately address its history of genocides against the Armenian populations during the early 20th century. The murders of Christian workers at the Turkish Bible Society in 2007, point to a society that has yet to come to terms with its Christian history and heritage. One of the assailants, the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, was part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Christian-Islamic religious dialogues have begun to take place over recent years, but these are limited mostly to the academic community. Few initiatives seem to be engaging with representatives of more extremist movements.
A keystone of EU membership is freedom of religious expression, as an element of the essential human rights enshrined in EU law. In September 2007, European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, agreed on the importance of Christian religion as a feature of European unification. Speaking at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania, he said: “A union that is reduced to its economic and geographic dimensions alone would lack unity”.
Source:
- Most Turks keen to join EU
http://euobserver.com/9/26252 - Religion is essential says EU President
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=972 - Turkey Christian Missionaries horrifically tortured before killings
http://www.christiantoday.com/articledir/print.htm?id=10523