Christians (and post-Christians) voting for Turkey

On many subjects, Tony Blair, Chris Patten, the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph take divergent views. But they all believe that Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union, and as soon as possible. This shared position demonstrates how completely the British political class, Left and Right, has become divorced from reality. In Ankara in May, Tony Blair said “Britain supports Turkey’s membership of the EU and we are proud to have championed that over the past few years”.

He hoped that accession negotiations would be opened formally in December 2004. This theme was taken up on 18 May by the Daily Telegraph, with a leader entitled “Our friends in Turkey should be allowed in EU”. The Telegraph opposed Gladstone’s campaigns against the Turks in the 1870s and 1880s, and backed the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 – “so it is with some enthusiasm that we again take up the cause of our old friend”. This is an example of how nostalgia can be taken too far. That the newspaper you work for supported someone in the 19th Century surely does not mean you have to support them in the 21st. The following day, the Telegraph lauded the decision by Eton to appoint a Muslim imam.

The editorial suggested weakly that Muslim clerics recruited in Britain would be more likely to be “wishy-washy” than those recruited abroad, and that this would therefore boost assimilation. It went on to say that “Perhaps future battles of Basra will be won on the playing fields of Eton” (Daily Telegraph, 19 May 2004). This is patronizing, wishful thinking dressed up as historically conscious conservatism. On 18 September, the Spectator weighed in with an editorial entitled “Open the gates of Vienna” – a reference to EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein’s surprisingly sensible remarks about the epic 1683 confrontation. Blair seems to believe having an Islamic state in the EU will help reduce tension in the Middle East.

This is a little difficult to take from the man whose foreign policy is partly responsible for that tension, but leaving this aside, the Turkish prime minister’s signature on an anti-terrorism agreement which may, or may not, be observed seems a poor return for agreeing to alter permanently the cultural and demographic balance of Europe. It may be that Blair thinks supporting Turkey’s membership of the EU will help in the integration of British Muslims (and help them forgive Iraq).

Yet many Muslims despise the Turkish government as being blasphemously reformist – and what about the Kurds? Turkish accession will not help, but hinder, security in the Middle East, by absorbing many millions of people intrinsically sympathetic to Islamic fundamentalism, and making the EU’sborders much longer and more permeable. How can it help security to have borders extending to Iraq, Iran and Syria? The accession of Turkey would also mean the net transfer of yet more monies from provident countries to other countries, the net transfer of yet more Turks to join their cousins in their European colonies, and whole, new, unimaginably expensive and convoluted layers of bureaucracy and potential for misunderstanding.

If Turkey is ever admitted, it will be just another reason – if a more urgent one than most – for Britain to quit the EU. The legacy of Kemal Ataturk gives modern Turkey a semblance of democracy. But this semblance overlies a much deeper Muslim fundamentalism, which even many European conservatives would probably regard as tiresome and intrusive.

Recent elections in Turkey have seen the inexorable rise of Islamist parties, a development only kept in check by the threat of force by the army. Many British Conservatives view Turkey’s accession as a purely economic question. Yet this rationale is questionable.

Whether Turkey is a member or not, the UK will still be able to trade with her – and Turkey, rich in unskilled labour but poor in technology and infrastructure, can surely only be an economic drag in a technologically advanced trading bloc. Insofar as unskilled labour is needed in Western countries, it can be obtained at home by raising wages, or through carefully regulated work permit schemes. But the fundamental reason is that Turkey is neither Western nor European.

Whatever the present state of Christianity, all the countries in the EU have been Christian for centuries, and this has marked them indelibly. Overlaid on the different varieties of Christianity (and Germanic, Celtic and Graeco-Roman paganism) have been the ideas of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, which have culminated in our present style of liberal democracy and which underpin the whole EU concept.

This is a complex blend of influences – one which it is exceedingly difficult even for many Europeans properly to comprehend, and which may be impossible for those raised within other traditions. Introducing a whole new set of influences into our already volatile cultural matrix can only cause problems for all concerned. Conservatives are supposed to have a clear understanding of human nature and a love for their civilization – an understanding, and a love, that transcend short-term military, political or economic considerations which are, as we have seen, of dubious validity. It is about time that Britain’s Tories began really to think about this vitally important topic. ..