As a person with Cypriot relatives, I was kind of brought up thinking that the Turks were bogeymen. My grandfather, I think it fair to say, was very anti-Turk. Despite this, even I can see the obvious logic in welcoming turkey into the EU. Not to do so would make Europe seem like some kind of Christian club, which would only further enrage the Muslim extremists, as it would appear turkey was being denied access to wealth on the basis of religion. This would, furthermore, reduce the whole European project to a talking shop, and it would be increasingly ignored by the other world players – china, India, the u.s. Europe can only survive if its diverse but coherent; not to let turkey join would be pure folly.