# Turkey determined to be part of the EU



## Deleted User (Nov 23, 2020)

Source: https://www.voanews.com/europe/erdogan-says-turkey-sees-itself-part-europe



> Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that his country, an official candidate for European Union membership, sees itself as an inseparable part of Europe but will not give in to attacks and double standards.
> 
> "We see ourselves as an inseparable part of Europe... However this does not mean that we will bow down to overt attacks to our country and nation, veiled injustices and double standards," Erdogan said in a speech to the members of its AK Party.



I assume Turkey's currency is in the crapper so Erdogan is looking to fix that. U.K. has left the EU so it was a matter of time for non-European countries to join them.

Cyprus is in the Middle East, yet it's part of the EU. For what it's worth, the majority of the population are Europeans, the language is Cypriot Greek, and there's a city that's basically a paradise for cats (not kidding!). But all that aside, Turkey owns a part of Cyprus and officially, they [Cyprus side] warned not to go there as it can or is dangerous.


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## Costello (Nov 23, 2020)

Turkey can claim to be geographically in Europe but they are certainly not and will probably never be (not under Erdogan) in the European Union


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## jimbo13 (Nov 23, 2020)

Boesy said:


> Source: https://www.voanews.com/europe/erdogan-says-turkey-sees-itself-part-europe
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The only union Turkey will be joining include mash potatoes and gravy.

That said I don't see how they westernize their human rights issue to a satisfactory degree to get in to the EU this generation, I am not a big fan of countries forfeiting their sovereignty to a bunch of bureaucrats in brussels anyways.


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## Taleweaver (Nov 23, 2020)

Boesy said:


> Source: https://www.voanews.com/europe/erdogan-says-turkey-sees-itself-part-europe
> I assume Turkey's currency is in the crapper so Erdogan is looking to fix that. U.K. has left the EU so it was a matter of time for non-European countries to join them.


Did you even bother to read your own source?

Turkey wants to be a part of the EU for at least a couple decennia. Problems were always the human rights violation that weren't properly followed (the Kurdish community, mostly). The article mentions a drilling dispute with Greece and Cyprus (in other words: a dispute with the EU). While new to me, it certainly adds to the tension that lowers the chances of them joining.

However, the currency nor brexit isn't mentioned or even referenced anywhere in the article, so I don't get why you bring it up.


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## spotanjo3 (Nov 23, 2020)

I don't mind if Turkey wants to be a part of the Eu then it will be easier for people to come to Turkey using EURO currency.


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## ut2k4master (Nov 23, 2020)

eu != europe


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## Flame (Nov 23, 2020)

As a British and a Turkish. I hope Turkey does join E.U. one day, i can be a E.U. member again. but at this rate very unlikely. Erdogan is like Putin, he has all the power. one man should not have all the power of a country. in E.U, countries you can lose your leadership any moment. what ever Erdogan does his always in power. no matter how good or bad.

I know for a fact Erdogan party has given people bag of coal for votes. in a democracy you should not be able to buy votes. Turkey has so much problems it should fix before thinking about joining E.U.

Womans rights have gotten worse over time. Unemployed rates are very very high. infrastructure is like a joke, really bad one at that. justice system can be brought. people are thrown in jail for life for just speaking against the goverment.


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## lokomelo (Nov 23, 2020)

From the news I got here where I live, It is kinda the opposite that is happening, as Turkey is marching very fast towards isolation from everything they are in some form associated with if (EU, NATO, G20 and so on).


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## grcd (Nov 23, 2020)

Flame said:


> As a British and a Turkish. I hope Turkey does join E.U. one day, i can be a E.U. member again. but at this rate very unlikely. Erdogan is like Putin, he has all the power. one man should not have all the power of a country. in E.U, countries you can lose your leadership any moment. what ever Erdogan does his always in power. no matter how good or bad.
> 
> I know for a fact Erdogan party has given people bag of coal for votes. in a democracy you should not be able to buy votes. Turkey has so much problems it should fix before thinking about joining E.U.
> 
> Womans rights have gotten worse over time. Unemployed rates are very very high. infrastructure is like a joke, really bad one at that. justice system can be brought. people are thrown in jail for life for just speaking against the goverment.



Very well said!


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## FAST6191 (Nov 23, 2020)

Ataturk had some strange ideas, some various dubious calls, some terribly unpleasant actions even by the standards of the time, and possibly a too ambitious timeline, but was more or less on the right path. I do also find the veneration/father of the Turks thing to be creepy.

Erdogan on the other hand seems to at best be increasingly losing the plot, and more likely is instead an authoritarian bastard that at least pretends to be doing it in the name of religion (granted actually doing it in the name of religion is not exactly better).
If he and his mob stick around I imagine parts of North Africa will be in the EU before Turkey manages it.

I do also wonder where Russia sits in all this. I know relations run hot and cold but if they too are going to stay doing their own thing (all signs point to probably) then the EU effectively controlling some of those nice southern ports, crossings and whatnot is unlikely to sit well.


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## notimp (Nov 23, 2020)

No one actually posted the context of the quote?

Erdogan is a proto 'dictator' that reconstructed the power apparatus within the country around himself and his contact network. Dont care about moral implications - just that theres a 'strong man' at the helm. And that turkey had been 'more democratic' in the past.

Turkey is currently extorting the EU in terms of holding back migrants from crossing over to Greece. This is willing extortion, the EU is willing to pay - they are paying 'by person held back in turkey (to finance their living costs there - which makes sense)', and there is money skimmed away from those payments - quite obviously. (Owning contractors, or otherwise... Don't know.)

Turkey also used them as an active pressure tool in the past, opening some of the borders they control, causing immediate influx of migrants, and military use on the greek end - prior to following up with negotiation talks. (Thats the extortion part.)

Recently turkey has used its 'bargening chip' to actively infringe on territorial rights (afair drilling rights at sea) of natural gas reserves owned by greece. Always framing it as 'their own national territorial rights' and ladidaa...

As with every country thats a buffer to another zone of influence, talks and financial incentives of other interests are also quite common. 
https://www.reuters.com/article/instant-article/idUKKCN10K1LE

The statement in the opening post is a bait and switch. 

"We loves the EU and would never stray - but we also want to exploit greeks gas reserves."

Is simply a vailed strongarm move.

Turkey currently has almost no incentives to enter the EU (payed by different sides, pushing over Greece as we speak  ), EU has no incentives to let Turkey enter currently (mostly the migrant crisis issue - but they also 'lead Turkey along by the nose' with a 'potential candidate country status' for years - very arguably, never intending to make up on the promise.

Turkey has pushed for the most 'valuable' parts of an 'association' treaty independantly by now ( https://www.visasturkey.com/turkey-to-start-visa-free-travel-program-to-european-countries/ ).

No movement on 'real integration' whatsoever.

(Doing that would cut the dictators income at this point, basically..  )


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## GCS (Nov 23, 2020)

I would also like Turkey to be in the EU but it probably won't happen with Erdoğan as you have mentioned too. The current government isn't liked by the EU and most importantly by the citizens. Hopefully, in 2023 (or in early) Elections this situation would change and another party gets elected. 
Currently, in Turkey, there is an economical crisis. The crisis is that tragicomic that when our Finance Minister resigned the Euro has decreased from ~10 Liras to ~9 Liras. We only buy things from outside and do not sell our products.

The "*One Man"* governance is sadly in Turkey. This gives the right Erdoğan to legislative-executive-judiciary. This has been accepted by 49% to 51% a few years ago. _"One country, One Homeland, One Man" - Erdoğan _

About the Syria Situation; I really didn't like that they got Syrian refugees into Turkey, most of them do pollute the country, they cause over-population and they do get more monthly payment than the normal minimum-wage - I am not being racist here I am just telling the facts.
Turkey needed protection on Syria side because of the terror attacks (ISID, etc...) and I find it normal that they have attacked Syria for a safe zone at least to some degree.

Overall, Turkey will never get in the EU with Erdoğan and under some of these circumstances.


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## notimp (Nov 23, 2020)

GCS said:


> I would also like Turkey to be in the EU but it probably won't happen with Erdoğan as you have mentioned too. The current government isn't liked by the EU and most importantly by the citizens. Hopefully, in 2023 (or in early) Elections this situation would change and another party gets elected.
> Currently, in Turkey, there is an economical crisis. The crisis is that tragicomic that when our Finance Minister resigned the Euro has decreased from ~10 Liras to ~9 Liras. We only buy things from outside and do not sell our products.
> 
> The "*One Man"* governance is sadly in Turkey. This gives the right Erdoğan to legislative-executive-judiciary. This has been accepted by 49% to 51% a few years ago. _"One country, One Homeland, One Man" - Erdoğan _
> ...


Not to get too conspiracy laden - but the entire 'partnership/association/integration/full member status' process is a racket in itself.  Its basically how the EU is enlarging its sphere of influence. 

I've watched a few conferences with diplomats and academics on the potential association process of Armenia and Azerbaijan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_enlargement_of_the_European_Union , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia–European_Union_relations) - and the academics within those talks very openly laid out why at the moment going into talks would not make sense from a 'quid pro quo' stance, and what other alignment options they had, and what they netted them, and so on.

So the 'i would also like it to happen, because culturally, ...' angle is mostly PR..  (Which also has an economic impact..  ) Real talk is much less 'visionary'.


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## Deleted User (Nov 23, 2020)

ut2k4master said:


> eu != europe


Did you mean ≠?

Europe and EU aren't the same thing. One is a continent, the other is an organization.


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## ut2k4master (Nov 23, 2020)

Boesy said:


> Did you mean ≠?
> 
> Europe and EU aren't the same thing. One is a continent, the other is an organization.


thats what i wrote


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