Talking Turkey

[billroper]

I have a feeling that the riots in France have put paid to any chance that Turkey had to enter the European Union in the near future.

Comments

[shannachie.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. The people rioting are from Central Africa. They are not Arabs. They have come to France from France's former colonies.
Turkey is not a starving ex-colony, it is, after all, NATO member, an industrialised state, with a secular government - more secular than Germany or the US. The Turkish government is not as democratic as one would wish to have it, but in order to join the EU they will have to remedy that.
The riotors are people who have assembled in France to escape starvation or elimination by war in their home countries. to a large part, they do not possess the skills necessary to survive in a highly industrialised country. Those who do still have to face the unemployment rate and - very probably - some (racial?) chauvinism as well. they've been driven by necessity and poverty in to some rather dreadful and crowded slums from where they do not find any perspective for their lives. Still, they would rather stay there and hope for (or demand) a better life than go back to Central Africa to a war or starvation zone. France bungled the integration aspect - badly. This is the result. It will probably get nastier before it gets better. The French are a proud nation and not known for their patience.

[billroper]

I didn't realize that these were Central African emigres. Of course, from the news coverage that we're getting in the U.S., we're hard pressed to determine that they're Muslims. But I had gotten the impression (possibly inaccurate) that these were Algerians and the like, which would make them Arabs.

Thanks for the info!