Turkey and EU relations: dialoguing for religious diversity
Turkey and EU relations: dialoguing for religious diversity

Summary/Abstract: The rise of tensions between the West and the Muslim world is often refl ected in public opinion polls, which reveal a fear of Islam in the West and a deep resentment in many Muslim countries against the West and the USA in particular. It is ironic that at a time when globalisation is transforming the world into a ‘global village’ there is an ever-widening gulf of misunderstanding and a kind of ‘iron wall’ composed of deep prejudices and myths emerging between the West and the Muslim world. What is the meaning of these developments for EU-Turkish relations? What might be the impact of EU-Turkish relations on the broader issues of dialogue between the West and the Muslim world? This paper addresses these questions and argues that the very fact that Turkey is negotiating its membership in the EU and that there is still the possibility that Turkey may become a member of an otherwise overwhelmingly ‘Christian club’ ought to be a truly welcome effort to bridge this gulf and overcome this new ‘iron wall’.

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