Has Turkey (and the behavior of its government) taken away any chance of that country becoming part of the EU?

The recent protests are a good sign of what is happening in Turkey. Turkey has, until recently, had a rather secular government. We will have to wait to see what happens, but it would not surprise me if the government eased up on some of its more extreme laws. Note also that Iran just elected a moderate as president. There really is such a thing as moderate Muslims. They will eventually take universal control, though not for a while.

Don’t expect too much from any Iranian president. He still answers to the same clergy that holds the true power.

EU membership for Turkey has more to do with politics in existing member states than with an objective level of democracy in Turkey. Turkey is a very big country with growing economical power and a long history with, for instance, Greece. Turkish membership would shift existing power balances within the EU eastward.

With regards to the democratic level of Turkey… We will just have to wait. And accept that further democratic participation of the population likely comes with more Islamic influence, given the demographics of the country.

On the contrary. For the first time, many of the skeptics in Germany are impressed by the willpower of the demonstrators. Their attitude shows that Turkey has the potential to become a true secular democratic country.

Erdogan is currently digging his own grave.

Interesting that we appear to believe that a country must be secular to join the EU. Apparently secularism is the EU’s new religion/ the “west’s” new religion. Bizarre flip.

@susanc – Maybe you don’t know the meaning of the words secularity and secularism to perceive this as a bizarre flip. Secularity is the foundation of all modern Western democracies. It requires the separation of the state from religion. It guarantees freedom of religion including the right to be an atheist or agnostic.

“Secularism is the principle of separation of government institutions, and the persons mandated to represent the State, from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and the right to freedom from governmental imposition of religion upon the people within a state that is neutral on matters of belief. Secularism draws its intellectual roots from Greek and Roman philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius and Epicurus; medieval Muslim polymaths such as Ibn Rushd; Enlightenment thinkers such as Denis Diderot, Voltaire, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine”

Only 50% of all Turks seem to support the ideas of secularity and securalism, but now they have become a more vocal group and their numbers will hopefully grow over the next years. In a secular democracy criticism and the expression of disagreement must seen as something perfectly normal. AKP supporters see things differently. They are outraged about the verbal attacks on Erdogan. Many expressed their view that such criticism should be made illegal. They seem themselves as conservative Muslims, and not secular Muslims.