Turkey turning away from Europe

Turkey wants to become a member of the European Union (EU), an aim supported by Sweden and several other EU countries. But recent developments give further evidence that Turkey would be an odd bird in the EU family. Turkey continues to deny the mass killings of Armenians in World War I and protested angrily when the Swedish parliament called it a genocide. Then in May Turkey supported the Ship to Gaza flotilla, severing its ties with Israel. As Christopher Hitchens points out in his analysis of this event, Prime Minister Erdogan seems set on de-secularizing Turkey, a move that won't sit well with the EU. And last week Turkey, and Brazil, voted against the UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against Iran. (See Fred Kaplan for specifics.) Joining forces with Iranian President Ahmadinejad is a bad sign for any leader wanting to play a role in the civilized world.