Irk the Turks, warns Lord Patten, and other Muslims might get angry too. And we can’t have that now, can we? Is that not the one thing that in this life must above all be avoided? From IOL, with thanks to Nicolei:
The West’s relations with Islam will be seriously damaged if Turkey”s application to join the European Union is blocked, former EU external affairs commissioner Lord Patten warned today.
Formal accession talks with the Turkish government are due to open on Thursday, but the process has been thrown into disarray after Austria said that it should not be granted full membership.
The Austrians instead suggested that it should be awarded the status of “privileged partner”.
The move prompted a furious response from Ankara, where the Turkish government warned that it would walk out of the talks if all that was on offer was second class membership.
EU foreign ministers are due to meet in emergency session tomorrow to try to resolve the crisis.