Turkey nowhere near ready for EU

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ended his trip through Central Eastern Europe on Wednesday after obtaining support in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary for his country's bid to join the EU. The liberal daily Sme explains why Turkey is not yet ready to join the EU: "The truth is that Turkey is far from fulfilling the conditions for EU membership, nor does it want to. It's not just that Turkey is occupying part of Cyprus - and by extension part of the EU's territory. ... The fact is that Turkey doesn't fulfill the basic requirements, including the supervision of the executive, the independence of its courts, respect for human rights and the rights of minorities, as well as freedom of opinion, media freedom and religious freedom. Turkey is gradually ceasing to be a secular state. If the Turkish leaders act as if they don't understand the EU's objections than they haven't understood the meaning of the EU: because it is a community of values."

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