Erdogan sends final message to Europe

In an article carried by the German newspaper Bild Thursday, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan wrote that Turkey had much to offer the EU if it was given full membership, though said that it risked alienating many of its own non-Christian citizens if Turkey’s accession bid was blocked.
“If the EU wants to limit its ‘identity’ to Christianity — which I think would be a mistake — what are the millions of people in the EU who aren’t Christian going to think?” Erdogan wrote in his open letter. “I believe that such an act would be detrimental to integration and even have the opposite effect.”
The Prime Minister said that it was in the best interests of both Europe and Turkey for Turkey to be given a date to start accession negotiations with the bloc.
“I believe from the bottom of my heart that the joint interests of Turkey and the EU today are stronger and more interlaced and diverse than they were in 1963,” he wrote. “Turkey has fulfilled all the requirements and paved the way for a positive decision.”
Saying that Turkey had met all of the criteria set down by the EU to start membership talks, Erdogan said that a decision in favour of his country at Friday’s meeting of EU leaders would help firmly establish the identity of the bloc.
“The decision on Friday reflects not only the status of the political reforms in Turkey, but rather the decision will also make the identity of the EU clearer,” Erdogan said.