BULGARIAN MUSLIMS INTEGRATION TEST FOR TURKEY'S EU ACCESSION- EU OBSERVER

09:16 Fri 19 Jan 2007

Bulgaria's EU membership could be considered a test for Turkey's accession to the union.

Turkey had hoped to enter the union for a long time and was ready to speed up processes needed for the entry like privatisation, Kurdish minority rights and softer position on Cyprus, EUobserver said.

Still, EU member states are opposing even more Turkey's membership because of Europe's problems with Islamic terrorism and tension in the Middle East.

Bulgaria's EU accession might turn out very useful in this situation, EUobserver said. Nearly 10 per cent of Bulgarian citizens were of Turkish origin.

Unlike Germany, where Turkish are guest-workers, in Bulgaria they are “indigenous population that has lived there for centuries.”

Bulgaria's indigenous Muslim population was nearly 12 per cent, which made the country the EU member state with the biggest Muslim population.

If Turkey entered the EU, the Muslim population in the EU would become nearly 14 per cent, or a figure, similar to the proportion in Bulgaria, EUobserver said.

According to EUobserver Bulgaria was unable to give solutions to the Kurdish or Cyprus problems but the country was very similar to Turkey.

Bulgarian and Turkish GDP and GNI per capita, economic growth and unemployment were almost equal.

Ethnic-based party Movement for Rights and Freedoms was Bulgaria's ruling coalition member since 2001, said EUobserver. Several Bulgarian MEPs of Turkish origin would be elected in mid-May.

The political and economic integration of Bulgarian Muslim minority to the EU might calm Turkish accession opposers, EUobserver said.

Comments

Comments by Cornelius James Krissilas - 00:28 19 Jan 2007

Comments by Cornelius James Krissilas - 00:49 19 Jan 2007
	Turkey especially European Turkey is a modern secular State.They have adopted European Culture like Symphonic Orchestras and Classical music,the Opera,Ancient Greek Tragedies, and European Theater is a part of the Culture of modern Turkey.They have adopted European Dress and their language is a beautiful one with Germanic and French influence in their pronunciation.The only thing that is missing is respect for the Greco-roman Byzantine Culture which is evident by not allowing the Greek-Christian Theologocal Seminary of Chalkis to open and still keeping the Hagia Sophia the Great Church of the Greek Byzantine-Rite Eastern Orthodox Catholic Christians as a Museum.Also in Cyprus they should return all the Churches of the Greek Cypriots in the Nothen part to the Greek Cypriots and allow free access to the Northen part of Cyprus by the Greek Cypriots.Also they must be open to the question of missing Greek Cypriots from the latest Greek Turkish war and give an honest account of their wereabouts.