Sunday, December 19, 2004

Do we want the Turkish peasantry here?

"Fairness would demand that Turkey now be fully allowed into the EU - but alas, post 9/11, the issue is no longer fairness but the survival of European values of democracy, tolerance and freedom of speech."

"Within the EU, Sweden and Germany have received most Turkish immigrants - and most of them are not the cosmopolitan sophisticates of Istanbul, but are from the relatively backward communities of Anatolia."

"Moreover, with a religious culture that generally disdains contraception, abortion and women's "rights", the Muslim population will almost certainly grow disproportionately. Bernard Lewis, the pre-eminent British scholar of Islam, predicts that by the end of this century, Europe will be predominantly Muslim."

". . . in reality, the real problem lay - and still lies - elsewhere: in the possible freedom of movement of 73 million Turks, many of whom are illiterate, pre-Enlightenment peasants. To allow millions of such people to pour into the Europe would be cultural suicide."
Telegraph | Opinion | Do we want the Turkish peasantry here?

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