Bill Cameron
Banned
And, Bill Cameron, I don't understand how you can think that human rights or death penalty are "trivial things" used up as excuses.
Cornelius,
Human rights and the death penalty are not trivial things. They have been used by the EU as a way to move the goal posts however.
EU membership only requires a moratorium, not an abolition, of the death penalty and many current member states didn't either announce a moratorium or abolish the death penalty until the 1990s. Abolishing the death penalty as a prerequisite for membership is part of the Lisbon Treaty, a treaty the EU has yet to ratify.
The eastern European nations who vaulted over Turkey in the EU membership queue executed people through the 1980s and most didn't abolish the penalty until the late 1990s. It wasn't just eastern European nations either, Ireland didn't abolish the death penalty until 1990 and Greece until 1993 for example. Even EU stalwarts like France and Belgium didn't do it until 1981 and 1996 respectively.
Turkey has had a moratorium since 1984, which is a better record than eight current EU members, and amended it's constitution to remove the death penalty in 2004. Turkey has met this latest goal, which wasn't really a goal at all. With Lisbon remaining on the table, only the moratorium was actually required but Turkey was told it was abolition or nothing.
Instead you have already condemned the whole EU as racist...
I have not. I merely pointed out that Europe has been toying with Turkey for over fifty years.
I've also made no accusations for why Turkey has been treated this way other than pointing to Turkey's size and religion. Suggesting that religion may play a role in Europe's decades long "Maybe" is not racist because religious affiliation does not depend on race.
If anything, Europe's aversion towards Turkey is cultural, something that is also often mistaken for race.
Finally, when you look at the condition of Spain when her membership bid was accepted, and rapidly accepted, you'll realize that the membership process is wholly subjective. Europe will bend or break the rules it holds to be so dear when the situation suits it. In that, the European Union is no different from any other government that has ever existed in human history.
Bill
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