Like it or not, Turkey remains a big political player and threat, here in Europe. The Turks are one of the bigger obsticles to overcome in the battle against Europe’s Islamization, and as the following article by the Baron points out, they are continuously at work trying to subvert Europe’s institutions (that are badly corrupted already). This is all about spreading Turkish clout, and by default, Islam, and if we don’t wizen up, they’ll succeed. KGS
The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 with ten original members, and added most of the rest of Western Europe over the next decade or so. The largest jump in membership occurred in the years immediately after the Soviet Empire fell. With the exception of Belarus — which has yet to reach the minimum standards for joining the CoE — any country that is even vaguely European is a member.
And, as you can see, some of them — Azerbaijan, perhaps? Georgia? — are not all that European. Culturally speaking, they are no more European than Iran is.
Here’s a list of all forty-seven member states of the Council of Europe — and quite a cornucopia it is:
| Albania | Germany | Norway | ||
| Andorra | Greece | Poland | ||
| Armenia | Hungary | Portugal | ||
| Austria | Iceland | Romania | ||
| Azerbaijan | Ireland | Russia | ||
| Belgium | Italy | San Marino | ||
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | Latvia | Serbia | ||
| Bulgaria | Liechtenstein | Slovakia | ||
| Croatia | Lithuania | Slovenia | ||
| Cyprus | Luxembourg | Spain | ||
| Czech Republic | Macedonia | Sweden | ||
| Denmark | Malta | Switzerland | ||
| Estonia | Moldova | Turkey | ||
| Finland | Monaco | Ukraine | ||
| France | Montenegro | United Kingdom | ||
| Georgia | Netherlands | |||
The borders of the entity known as “Europe” make neither geographical nor cultural sense. The idea of Europe as a “continent” is ludicrous: it is bounded by the Norwegian Sea and Atlantic Ocean on the west (except for Iceland), the Barents Sea and the White Sea on the north, the Ural Mountains on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea, the Bosphorus, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains on the south. Oh, and Turkey gets a special exception: it lies south of the Black Sea and east of the Bosphorus, but since a tiny piece of it (including Constantinople) lies west of the Bosphorus, Turkey gets to be part of “Europe”.
Isn’t that special?
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The Council of Europe was set up as a bulwark against communism, and was part of the larger idea of a “United States of Europe”, which also led in its own good time to the EEC, and later the EU.
The concept of human rights was integral to the CoE from its very inception. Turkey, however, like any other Islamic country, has different ideas than most Europeans about what the term “human rights” means. And, since Turkey has just assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Council of Europe, its version of human rights will gain greater visibility over the next few months.
Turkey has been throwing its diplomatic weight around a lot lately. It has used the Turkish minority in Germany to muscle in on the Merkel government’s integration policy. Its ambassador to Austria has insulted the entire nation of Austria — once again, because of its internal policies concerning the ethnic Turkish minority in Austria.
Outside of Europe, Turkey has been cozying up to China, rattling sabers at Israel, making friends with Hezbollah, and discussing military cooperation with Iran. Considering that Turkey is a full-fledged member of NATO, this should be worrisome to national security officials in certain Western capitals, but so far they seem to be taking these developments with equanimity. Britain and Sweden continue to be champions of Turkish accession to the EU.
Turkey — especially under its current fundamentalist Islamic government — would dearly love to reopen the gateway to Europe that was closed to the Ottomans at Vienna in 1683. The EU, with its corrupt welfare system and absence of internal borders, is the preferred vessel to carry tens of millions more Muslims into Europe. But there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and the Council of Europe affords yet another opportunity to poke a sharp stick into the underbelly of that amorphous region formerly known as Europe.