European Union diplomats are expressing growing concern at what they see as the increasingly “militant stance” taken by Turkey’s ruling government. They accuse Ankara of using probes into alleged plots against the government as a tool to jail and silence opponents and compromise the country’s secular credentials by introducing Quran studies in public schools.
Other measures include lowering the age at which parents can send their children to Islamic religious schools, increasing pressure on those criticising Islam and restricting abortion.
Turkish authorities accuse the so-called Ergenekon network of being behind several plots to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dozens of retired or serving senior military figures, intellectuals, lawyers and journalists been put behind bars. On Thursday Stefan Fuele, European commissioner for enlargement, cited this and other obstacles in the way of Turkey’s membership bid while in Istanbul for talks. “I have used this meeting to convey our concerns about the increasing detention of lawmakers, academics and students and the freedom of press and journalists,” he said.
The responsibility lies with the European Union, they made the membership of Turkey almost impossible, though Turkey has introduced many reforms to meet the demand of European Union. It seems that Turkey has now lost all hopes of becoming a member and are working on consolidating their role for leadership in the Muslim World. However, the success of turkey depends on not changing the secular role of the govt.
Mr Khalid u r right
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