Turkey and the EU

Turkey has for long been trying to gain membership status of the EU. However countries such as France are not allowing it access. Today again the French president has reiterated his pposition to Turkish membership of the EU. His statement came after President Obama gave a statement backing Turkish membership of the European Union.

Turkey would be a good partner for the EU in terms of defence as Turkey has a large army which could be useful to make the EU peace keeping force a European alternative to NATO or the UN, allowing the EU more political strength. Many people in the EU feel that Turkey should not be given membership of the EU because it is a majority Muslim state. Turkey on the other hand has become so secular that it is almost views my much of the Muslim world as a semi-Muslim nation state.

The questions will now be raised, does the US have enough influence over the EU in order to make the EU accept Turkey as a member? Did Obama really mean it or was he just trying to mae an image for himself in Turkey before his visit to the country? Will countries such as France ever openly accept a Muslim member state in the EU? One must not forget that if Turkey is given the green light then it opens up the doors for other Muslim states within Europe such as Kosovo and Albania.