Turkey's EU journey makes it into records

Turkey's EU journey makes it into records

LUXEMBOURG - While Turkey continues to struggles with entry talks, the never-ending story of its journey to the European Union, it has already found its place in the union’s records under a title "The Case of Turkey." The Virtual Research Center for Knowledge about Europe, or CVCE, in Luxembourg has allocated a file for Turkey that even includes some cartoons depicting its winding path. Turkey has a 49-year history with the EU, but started official discussions for full membership for the first time in 1987. The CVCE opened a special file in its archives for this long journey and characterizes Turkey’s case as a first in the EU’s history. The file introduces an article summarizing Turkey’s accession process. While stressing possible consequences of Turkey’s EU membership, the article also draws attention to the crowded population of Turkey. "Especially, in political terms where a population in 2020 of 86 million Turks would weigh heavily against 82 million Germans, 63 million Frenchmen, 58 million Britons and 54 million Italians," the article read. Among EU countries, Luxembourg with a population of only 500,000 stands out among member states that get cold feet from Turkey’s large population. "Schuman would have led the No camp" Debate over Turkey’s accession not only takes place in the current political scene of Europe but also reflects in the context of discussions over the EU’s historical evolution. According to a senior researcher, if Robert Schuman, the founder of the union, was alive today, he would oppose Turkey’s full membership. "Schuman’s answer to Turkey would be certainly ’no’ since he was a conservative Catholic," president of Robert Schuman European Studies and Research Center, Charles Barthel, told a group of Turkish journalists during their visit to Luxembourg earlier this month, which was organized by the European Journalism Center and journalist platform G-9. Hurriyet

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Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe (CVCE)
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