Out of 25 members, Austria, changed its stance and advocated for an associate membership (second class member) of the EU for Turkey. The country more or less held the EU hostage to its irrational proposal.

The British Foreign Secretary (Minister) Jack Straw (Britain being the current President of the EU), chairing the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the EU, could only hope and pray that the crisis would be solved.

After thirty continuous hours of hard bargaining, Austria, a Catholic-majority country, climbed down, but insisted on yoking membership talks for Turkey with membership talks for Croatia, another Catholic-majority country.

Britain has always been a strong supporter of Turkey's membership to the EU, and the British Foreign Secretary reportedly hailed the deal as "a truly historic day for Europe and for the international community."

Turkey's concern

The Turkish people were hurt at the open exhibition of Austria's apparent racial and religious prejudices towards a secular Turkey. They are angry and disillusioned. They are now not sure whether it is at all prudent to obtain membership in a Christian club where some members do not want them there.

The US Secretary of State reportedly watched the situation closely as the US supports the membership of Turkey. She reportedly talked with the Prime Minister of Turkey, giving reassurance that Cyprus would not become a member of the Nato, while Turkey took four hours before accepting "common" EU policies, one of the conditions of the talks with the EU, implying that this would force them into agreement to allow Cyprus into Nato, of which Turkey is a member.

Turkey's strategic location
Turkey's relatively small European sector with Istanbul (in earlier times known as Constantinople) as the main city covers only 23,764 square kilometres, separated from the Asian part by the Turkish straits. The Asian provinces, known as Anatolia, cover 755,688 square kilometres. Its population is around 70 million and constitutes about 99 percent Sunni Muslims.

The country is strategically located. Its importance in strategic terms to the West has been emphasised by taking Turkey into the fold of Nato from the very inception. It is a close ally to the US and during the Cold War stood as a bulwark against the spread of the Soviet Union's influence in the Middle East. During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the US had to withdraw its missiles from Turkey as a compromise in exchange of withdrawal of missiles from Cuba by the Soviet Union.

Reservations by a few countries
The last minute deal by the European Union to the talks for admission to the Christian Club by a populous Muslim country illustrates the serious reservations of some European members to Turkey's bid to the European Union.

Even at the dawn of the 21st century, reservations about a secular Muslim majority country which has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel exist among the few so-called "secular countries" of the EU, although the EU is aware that Turkish membership would move the EU frontier to the border of Iran and increase its population to more than 500 million.

It is reported that 80 per cent of people of France, Germany, and Austria are opposed to Turkey's membership into the EU. The former French conservative President Valery Giscard d'Estaing has publicly repeated his objection to its membership.

Giscard d'Estaing strongly argues that Turkey is an Asian country (Turkey's capital is in Ankara, Asia) and a Muslim majority one. He contends that these characteristics do not match those of the European Union.

It is intriguing to note that he did not raise objection to the location of Cyprus, only 80 kilometres south of Turkey, when it became a full member, because it is a Christian country. The question is: Is Cyprus in Europe?

Another fact is that Israel, located in the Middle East, joins the European sporting contests and participates in the Eurovision song competition. Do any European states raise objection?

Identity crisis?
There are many Turkish writers who believe that Turkey suffers from an identity crisis. Does Turkey belong to European values or Asian (Islamic) values? Turkish position is comparable to being a matter which is "neither solid or liquid, it is jelly". It has both European and Asian values and cultures. Mehmet Ali Birand, a leading Turkish writer, believes that with the admission of Turkey with the EU, its identity crisis will be over.

Austria's objection to full membership is due party to the existence of its the right-wing government in a pre-dominantly Catholic country (78 per cent of its population are Catholic) and partly to the unsuccessful Turkish attempt to besiege Austria's capital city Vienna in 1529 under the Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificient. Austrians cannot shake off their mental syndrome that Turkey has been waiting at "the gates of Vienna" (a reference to the battle between Turks and Christians in 1683 in Eastern Europe).

Turkey's entry into EU
Turkey has been trying to get into the European Union for decades. It became an associate member in 1963 and since then has been waiting "at the gates" of the Christian Club.

Turkey's desire for membership of the EU was accelerated when it found that by 2004 , ten new countries including Cyprus (Greek-held part) became members of the Union, many countries much earlier than Turkey because they are Christian countries..

Turkish membership will be subject to the difficult condition of referendums to be held in France and Austria. Observers believe that this strict condition was not put for membership of other Christian countries.

Despite all these dark political clouds, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reportedly said: "Turkey has taken a giant step forward on its march." Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has been at the talks in Luxembourg.

Turkish membership should be seen as an opportunity of the EU than a threat. It would have been tragic if EU did not start talks with Turkey which has gone through considerable reforms in areas of human rights and economy to comply with the demands of the EU.

Conclusion
Turkey's membership will involve a long difficult process of negotiation. It may take between ten and fifteen years for its eligibility into the EU. Meanwhile, many Turkish people wonder whether Turkey should become a member of the EU given the opposition of some European states.

The membership of the EU has become so attractive for many southern and Balkan states (such as Ukraine, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania) that they are willing, like Turkey, to undergo drastic social and economic reforms in exchange for economic dividends.

Many political analysts say that the EU has been using soft power instead of hard power to bring reforms to these countries for the benefit of their own peoples. One can argue that the EU strategy of using soft power has been more successful than the heavy-handed strategy of using hard power that the US has employed to try to bring about change in the Middle East. The bottom line is that economic gains motivate countries to join the EU, and in exchange they have to undertake socio-economic reforms.

Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.