Once this WikiLeaks US Embassy cable does the rounds, it'll be quite obvious that there is not a snowball's chance in hell of Turkey being able to join the EU. The US assessment of Turkey's Islamist influence begins from paragraph 10:
¶10. (C) AKP's lack of cohesion as a party and lack of
openness as a government is reflected in the range of murky,
muddled motives for wanting to join the EU we have
encountered among those AKPers who say they favor pursuing
membership...or at least the process. Some see the process
as the way to marginalize the Turkish military and what
remains of the arid "secularism" of Kemalism. We have also
run into the rarely openly-spoken, but widespread belief
among adherents of the Turk-Islam synthesis that Turkey's
role is to spread Islam in Europe, "to take back Andalusia
and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683" as one
participant in a recent meeting at AKP's main think tank put
it. This thinking parallels the logic behind the approach of
FonMin Gul ally and chief foreign policy advisor in the Prime
Ministry Ahmet Davutoglu, whose muddy opinion piece in the
Dec. 13 International Herald Tribune is in essence a call for
one-way multi-cultural tolerance, i.e., on the part of the EU.
You can read the cable in full here.
The Turkish leader, Erdogan, who Cameron seems to be so 'in love' with, is described as having "hunger for absolute power and for the material benefits of power" . He has "a sharp authoritarian style and deep distrust of others" and he surrounds himself "with an iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors". As a result, he has a "susceptibility to Islamist theories". And this is supposed to be the Secular leader who 'Call Me Dave' assures us will lead Turkey - and the EU - to a better age!
So, Mr Cameron, what the fuck are your chances of giving your beloved Turkey a shoe-in to the corrupt ranks of the European Union now then? Fuck all, I'd say.
It doesn't end there though. There's more, much more, tucked away in that same cable which will undoubtedly set Cameron, Van Rompuy and all the other EU fuckwits, setting their spin machines to 'max'.
Katabasis has done a complete breakdown and an excellent, comprehensive analysis of the cable, and what it means to the future of the EU, right here.
Please take time to read it and then spread the word far and wide!
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