THE TELEGRAPH: Following this week's Turkish general election, David Miliband spoke of "reaching out" to the victor, the moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The Foreign Secretary's choice of verb is a measure of Europe's estrangement from a country which joined Nato in 1952, became an associate member of the European Community in 1963 and has been negotiating for full EU membership since 2005.
"Reaching out" suggests extending the hand of friendship to a pariah. In fact, Turkey has just conducted a democratic exercise which has trumped a none-too-subtle threat of intervention from the military.
That should be lauded by the EU. Yet Mr Miliband's exhortation reflects the fact that Britain is almost alone in pressing Turkey's case for membership. Elsewhere, attitudes vary from tepid, as in the Netherlands, to frigid, as in France.
Europe's failure to appreciate Turkey's strategic importance is depressingly familiar. It was demonstrated ten years ago by Jacques Poos, then foreign minister of Luxembourg, and is evident today in the hostility of Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French president. Democratic Muslim nation in EU? Yes! (more) By Simon Scott Plummer
Mark Alexander
