Do the Turkish people deserve the European ideal and values is an important debate to be discussed and evaluated. Otherwise, Alternative für Deutschland and parties as such, no matter what, will be right -and also more ambitious, in time- about their discourses.
For a first step to begin to understand this issue may be the management of EU funds by the governments in Turkey for years but also there is sociological, historical, cultural and even mentality aspects which must be revisited while thinking on Turkey's relations with the Europe. Not only the political notions but also the society itself.
Europe's any institution can not be separated from other institutions which is an important phenomenon for the Integrity. In Turkey, such integration is also enormously weak: magazines on fashion or so-told myths on European identity from different sides serving maybe a compensation for a European integrity or at least the "life-style"; individual attempts to be part of the European idea and values even doesn't have any reference in the culture and also causes discrimination in some situations. Although Europe is not a dress code, Turkish people can only find a way through the Occident by how to dress which would probably may take the attention of Foucault and Huizinga scholars.
Anytime when there is crisis between Turkey and the EU, foreign newspapers can only find some youth dressed in some Anglo-Saxon style fashion, but nothing further, in general.
European Council is more a secure and confident institution of the Europe than the European Union because even in the European countries there are problems for integrity with their own nationals. Immigrants have more successful attempts for this which however should not be a matter of comparison but also must give some significance on the integrity problem, maybe integrity of immigrants was both had privilege and also maybe more easy.
Ignoring these facts and criticising Turkey's authoritarian moves in comparison to Russia can only be delusive, as European influence and its reflection in Russia can not be compared to Turkey's... In Turkey, If can be found, moves towards European ideals are also delusive with the contemporary situation of the society which also causes to the propagation to claim European Union as a 'Christian Union': it is true that Christianity is an important notion for the Europe but the criticism is here on people of Turkey is that they can never belong to the Europe whilst Turks had never been under the influence or imperialism of the Roman Empire although they had close relations with the Italian city states and France, Christianism and Roman past of the Europe and its consequent norms and cultures can not easily find a reflection in the society (or democracy). And this also causes the Western style dressing fetish as a culture, if it can be taken as a culture, though, and its conservative or discriminatory criticisms comes so forth leaving no place for debates on law, administration, culture.
"The Biggest violence against women is the headscarf ban", Today's Zaman, March 2013
Hizmet movement affiliated newspaper
Young women in Turkey are preserving a much more curiosity for the Occident than men. I wouldn't describe mens' situation as more free, comfortable in Turkey, but the situation the young women experiencing in Turkey is full of the oppression feelings. Young women in Turkey who finds themselves closer to the Occident are more feeling closer to the United Kingdom, Italy, the USA, France and recently Germany as well and a minority of them are curious about the Asia.
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