(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Turkey is one again in the loop.
Taking a leaf out of rapprochement, the European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fuele, is visiting Ankara in an attempt to ensure that the Muslim country's desire to be part of 27-member bloc will be honoured earnestly.
Turkey has made no qualms in making a point that it believes itself to be an integral part of Europe, irrespective of the fact that it has a tilt towards Asia and is psychologically a bastion of Middle East politics. It, however, remains to be seen what timeline the EU envoy has in his mind as he inspects the progress that Turkey has made in meeting the criterion wish list of the Union.
Ankara stands at a critical phase of its history and this has to be kept in mind as the NATO and the EU move ahead for consensual talks. Turkey's recent brawl with Israel and the lowering of ties had already strained its ties with the West, resulting in distancing from many of the prescriptions that the United States and Europe coined for the Muslim world.
Similarly, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's spontaneous-ness in terms of West's policies on Libya, Egypt and Syria has granted it with a unique bargaining position. Turkey by ensuring that it isn't carried away when it comes to survival of the regime in Damascus and the impact it will have on militant organisations, Hamas and the Hezbollah, has played a masterstroke in real-politicks.
The talks in Ankara have truly bred an element of euphoria, and opening the EU doors for Turkey could well seize the moment. Cyprus, which is about to take up the rotating presidency, could pose as an irritant, and that shouldn't come to hamper congeniality in ties. The West, and especially the European Union, has an opportunity in accommodating Turkey in its folds in order to dispel the impression that it is purely a Christian amalgamation - and racial and religious profiling are still at work.
Turkey is no fundamentalist state nor has it harbingered extremist elements ever, and that is in need of being squarely recognised. Brussels should also take into account that Turkey's current political dispensation is highly regarded in the Middle East and the Arab Muslim world, and its European endorsement in terms of geopolitics and strategy would be an epoch. It's time to stop treating Turkey as a suspected client state. Neither is it yesteryears sick man nor a liability for Europe.
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