Turkey and EU

What do you think of Turkey's effort in being a member of EU? Does Turkey historically or geographically belongs to Europe?
Lately I am studying on this topic., because I have to write a paper. I am curious to hear some different voices

Ehm..It seems nobody cares with this topic; or maybe I couldnt formulate myself clear
See you later

A small portion of Turkey lies within Europe -- Turkish Thrace. Historically, the Turks once controlled all of the Balkans, up to Austria, where they were defeated in a siege of Vienna.

Culturally, IMO, I would say no, they aren't European, largely due to their religion, but the Turks and Turkish government is the most "European" in character than any other Muslim nation I can think of.

Well, even though I am not European, this is actually an issue I've done
some studying on.

The real problem with saying is Turkey part of Europe or not, is that in
different time periods that has fluctuated, and thusly you have many
arguments over that one thing.

Culturally I would have to say that Turkey is in many aspects equal to
most Western countries, however as it stands right now it also has a few
major key differences that make it the opposite of European ideals, that
is the limitation of free speech, the state controlled mosques and state
trained and payed priests (I'm not sure what the equivalent is in Islam),
even though they're Constitution says that Turkey is a secular nation with
a defined separation of Church and State.

In my opinion Turkey will most likely become an EU member-state, but
most likely not until after 2015 at the very earliest.


Personally I think that once Turkey can fix it's problems, and become
a fully EU-acceptable state, than they should be able to, especially
considering Turkey was one of the founding states of the EU itself.

Yes as long as they keep religion and state well separated and respect humans rights and democracy.