Wortkrieg um das europäische Selbstverständnis : eine Vergleichsanalyse der Türkei-Debatte in Deutschland und Frankreich in Frank Baasner (dir.), Von welchem Europa reden wir? Reichweiten nationaler Europadiskurse, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 2008.

Debate on European identity : French-German analysis of Turkish membership issue

Since a few years not only a handful of experts or politicians have serious discussions about the Turkish membership issue, in fact it has become a topical subject of public debates in Europe. The French electoral campaign for elections in the EU in 2004 and the German one for presidency in 2005 are evidence of the presence the Turkish membership issue faces likewise on the level of the political agenda of both countries. Not only the attitude towards Christianity and Islam is questioned but even more the political values, the principales of the EU as well as the ongoing European integration and the gurantee of security at European borders.With the help of these four essential topics, the following article wishes to examine in detail the public debate (especially among politicians, Fellows and essayists) on the Turkish accession to EU from a German and French point of view. It is not by a coincidence that exactly these two countries had been chosen. Thus it is because they are having passionate debates and also their way of discussing is very dissimilar which highlights remarkable historical and cultural-political differences. The study was carried out between autumn 2003 and October 2005 beginning with the declaration of the former French president Giscard and the German historian Wehler and the opening of the negotiations between Turkey and the EU.