Sunday 18 August 2013

The Turks are no Turkeys

The Turks appear to be very good, hard working people.  We've found them also to be very honest in their dealings with others.  When I thought dinner came to 60 lire the other evening, and I handed over a 10 lire note and a 50 lire note, the man handed back the 50 lire note and gave me change from the 10 lire note (actually, dinner was 8 lire).  There has been at least one other example of such honesty as well.  Jean says it is the true Muslim character coming out in ordinary, honest, Muslim people.

Our guide at Ephesus said that since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, many ordinary Turks are no longer attracted to joining the EU.  For a long time, Europe has been accused of keeping Turkey at arm's length purely because Turkey is Muslim (it first applied for EU membership around 40 years ago).  I really don't think members of the European Union have anything to fear from the Muslims of Turkey.  They are broad in their outlook, honest, industrious, they are not stupid, they take pride in their country and its history, many have mastered English quite well, the streets are quite clean, and the Turks are regular folks who just happen to be Muslim.  So many of them don't even look different.  Europeans should visit this country, get to know the people here, and support Turkey's inclusion within the EU perhaps later when Europe itself is doing better economically.

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