The goal of joining the EU unites Turkey

Edvin Hladnik Milharcic reviews the past and present of the modern Turkish state: "The Kemalists, who ruled Turkey ... since the 1920s, are now a thing of the past. After decades of more or less absolute rule they were driven out of power by Tayyip Erdogan's Islamicists. These people have no difficulties with the democratic or social nature of the state, but its secularism is a thorn in their side. After years of heated polemics, religious women are now allowed to wear headscarves at the universities. In similar cases, Atatürk's followers have traditionally carried out a military putsch and ... reintroduced the absolute secularism of the state. However this is no longer a viable option, because it would put an end to the political programme that unites Kemalists and Islamists in close democratic combat. Both sides want to integrate Turkey into the EU, and adapt the state to the norms established by Europe as a suitability test."

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