President Mary, Is she for real???

scudzilla

So Mary is currently in Turkey and here's a quote from the article

President Mary McAleese has reaffirmed Ireland's strong backing for Turkey's accession to EU membership.

Is she serious?? When the doors opened for many Eastern Block countries (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania etc) a good few years back the Celtic tiger was booming and we could take the influx of newcomers, now it's slowing down teh country seems to be struggling but coping.

IMO all that will change if Turkey get in the EU, imagine 300,000 turks coming over here, it would be chaos!!!

I don't know if they would be allowed full access and allowed to work, but if they were then the smaller EU countries like Ireland and Greece would be well and truly knackered

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0323/turkey.html

Jordan Berbatov

scudzilla wrote: »

So Mary is currently in Turkey and here's a quote from the article

President Mary McAleese has reaffirmed Ireland's strong backing for Turkey's accession to EU membership.

Is she serious?? When the doors opened for many Eastern Block countries (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania etc) a good few years back the Celtic tiger was booming and we could take the influx of newcomers, now it's slowing down teh country seems to be struggling but coping.

IMO all that will change if Turkey get in the EU, imagine 300,000 turks coming over here, it would be chaos!!!

I don't know if they would be allowed full access and allowed to work, but if they were then the smaller EU countries like Ireland and Greece would be well and truly knackered

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0323/turkey.html

shur they may let on shes at something! Irish president is the easiest gig going

partyatmygaff

Does it even matter? She's the president but what she says hardly has any bearing on the running of the country.

dr.bollocko

I'm going over there and eating their swans first chance I get.

Coriolanus

The French and Dutch will veto it anyway. So we might as well reap some benefits from saying we'd love to have them over for tea.

Bazzy

shes just there for the craic and the beer and to keep them sweet a lot of irish people go there for hols etc she is just flying the flag!

sure you lot are great fellas altogether

SV

Please don't let turkey into the eu.. Anything but that

InTheTrees

Most of its in asia isnt it? There's only a sliver of it in Europe.

sceptre

InTheTrees wrote: »

Most of its in asia isnt it? There's only a sliver of it in Europe.

Yeah, and the Greeks would happily take that if they got it, they expected it after WW1.

Mind you, have you seen where Cyprus is? Anyone who calls that Europe needs their neck restraightened.

Also, not pointed that all that in southern Cyprus you can't buy Turkish Delight but you can buy an entirely original alternative called Cyprus Delight...

bunnynexus

Turkey should be in the EU. Its is in Eurasian country. The EU isnt just for christians, french & english losers

DrumSteve

bunnynexus wrote: »

Turkey should be in the EU. Its is in Eurasian country. The EU isnt just for christians, french & english losers

remove your blinkers please.

Biggins

Politically, she is only allowed to state the official position/policy of the country and the government of the time.
Her own personal feelings don't come into it and she is professional enough not to let them interfere anyway even if she privately disagreed.
Officially, she is even supposed to seek permission of the government to actually leave the country!

bonerm

bunnynexus wrote: »

The EU isnt just for christians, french & english losers

Yes it is.

It's our little corner of the globe where we can pretend the majority of the world is white .... even tho it's only around 20% .... and dropping fast.

Paddy Samurai

4 Mil turks in Germany means 12 points for turkey each eurovision from Germany.

Think about it ,millions of turks in each eu country. We would never need to worry about hosting it again.
Eurovision winners 2023 Turkeyyyyyyy!!
2024 Turkeyyyyyyy!!
2025 Turkeyyyyyyy!!
2026 guess who?
2027,2028 etc,etc,etc.

scudzilla

But why would she say that Ireland will be backing there application, surely she must have been given the heads up from someone in the government

efb

They Turk our jobs!!!!

sock puppet

bunnynexus wrote: »

Turkey should be in the EU. Its is in Eurasian country. The EU isnt just for christians, french & english losers

It is however restricted to countries that recognise each other's governments.

bonerm

scudzilla wrote: »

But why would she say that Ireland will be backing there application, surely she must have been given the heads up from someone in the government

Yanks love Turkey because of its strategic position. We do whatever the Yanks say. QED.

ejmaztec

Rabble rabble Gobble gobble.

Rented Mule

bonerm wrote: »

Yanks love Turkey because of its strategic position. We do whatever the Yanks say. QED.

They also love them because they are an Islamic country that isn't run by a bunch of fanatics.

CianRyan

To be honest lads, if you're against this, you're gay.

rogerbravo

CianRyan wrote: »

To be honest lads, if you're against this, you're gay.

open the gattttteeessssss

dr.bollocko

CianRyan wrote: »

To be honest lads, if you're against this, you're gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with....
Oh never mind.

bob50

Pres Mary is living in a dream world saying ireland supports Turkey getting in to the eu She convenitley forgets France Germany Italy would stop them from getting in

SV

Rented Mule wrote: »

They also love them because they are an Islamic country that isn't run by a bunch of fanatics.

Ha!

Raiser

Shoe Shops musta been closed......

Stinicker

rogerbravo wrote: »

open the gattttteeessssss

Man shes hideously thin, Having hooked up with a Turk (well Germanic Turk) I can state that their women are hot hot hot when you get to see them from behind the veil etc.

Turkey should never be allowed to join the EU and by voting Yes we have set the wheels in motion, but who cares as "Lisbon for Jobs"..... oh wait.

oppenheimer1

scudzilla wrote: »

So Mary is currently in Turkey and here's a quote from the article

President Mary McAleese has reaffirmed Ireland's strong backing for Turkey's accession to EU membership.

Is she serious?? When the doors opened for many Eastern Block countries (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania etc) a good few years back the Celtic tiger was booming and we could take the influx of newcomers, now it's slowing down teh country seems to be struggling but coping.

IMO all that will change if Turkey get in the EU, imagine 300,000 turks coming over here, it would be chaos!!!

I don't know if they would be allowed full access and allowed to work, but if they were then the smaller EU countries like Ireland and Greece would be well and truly knackered

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0323/turkey.html

Not her opinion personally, but that of the governments. In fact that has been "our" position along with the UK for quite some time. We wouldn't want to be seen to be upsetting the Americans by being against membership.

MonkeyTennis

i dont want to be a fuddy-duddy. But we kinda all voted for this stuff. I mean the whole freedom of movement/employment thingy. We agreed to it.

Just in case .. you didnt know. Its not all bad.. you can go to Germany and steal all their jobs if you want

shayno90

I wouldn't pay attention to what McAleese says, her views are don't hold any water in an international context. Will relieved when she ends her term next year, she was only puppet for the Fianna Fail cause who made no tangible contribution to Irish society over the 13 years in office. Turkey will not be allowed in due to the tension between Greece and themselves, plus an islamic and wannabe western democracy are not mutually exclusive with the first one always taking precedence over the other. In any case, McAleese should keep such opinions to herself as she has no basis for supporting the Turkish cause. Turkey is an Asian country, not an European country, end of story!

General Zod

bob50 wrote: »

Pres Mary is living in a dream world saying ireland supports Turkey getting in to the eu She convenitley forgets France Germany Italy would stop them from getting in

Trade relations.

Ireland will make all the happy supportive noises towards Turkey provided it makes a good impression of Ireland and boosts exports to Turkey.

As we know by now, the Irish government will happily back a losing horse provided there's some side reward for them at some stage.

Theta

Turkey is to far east in my mind. Currently they are courting the middle east for better relations while saying they are fully commited to being in europe but showing little progress of that.

Anyway it will take decades for them to even meet the minimum standards to enter not to mentions the greeks and cypriots dont like the whole cyprus situation.

Good relations with Turkey are worth about 400 millions squid a year to Ireland though.

Fuhrer

General Zod wrote: »

Trade relations.

Ireland will make all the happy supportive noises towards Turkey provided it makes a good impression of Ireland and boosts exports to Turkey.

As we know by now, the Irish government will happily back a losing horse provided there's some side reward for them at some stage.

Quite.


When Turkish economic backlashes ever materialise it will probably be something along the lines of "Germany blocked us so they wont get our Kebab shops" then Ireland will be sitting all glowing and the like

super_furry

If they can improve the standard of Irish kebabs, I'm all for it.

Hagar

Turkey, not just for Christmas.

problemchimp

shayno90 wrote: »

I wouldn't pay attention to what McAleese says, her views are don't hold any water in an international context. Will relieved when she ends her term next year, she was only puppet for the Fianna Fail cause who made no tangible contribution to Irish society over the 13 years in office. Turkey will not be allowed in due to the tension between Greece and themselves, plus an islamic and wannabe western democracy are not mutually exclusive with the first one always taking precedence over the other. In any case, McAleese should keep such opinions to herself as she has no basis for supporting the Turkish cause. Turkey is an Asian country, not an European country, end of story!

I am not convinced by your argument. Personally I'm don't know if I want Turket in the EU, but nobody seems to offer an argument for or against except your good self. Most posters seem to make jokes about kebabs. The tension between Turkey and Greece is minor compared to the tension between ourselves and Britian in the early seventies when we both joined the EEC, and that didn't cause problems.

Nichololas

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

4 Mil turks in Germany means 12 points for turkey each eurovision from Germany.

Think about it ,millions of turks in each eu country. We would never need to worry about hosting it again.
Eurovision winners 2023 Turkeyyyyyyy!!
2024 Turkeyyyyyyy!!
2025 Turkeyyyyyyy!!
2026 guess who?
2027,2028 etc,etc,etc.

Thereby bankrupting the country as Ireland nearly was when we won it 3 times a row back in the early 90s.

Very clever, Ms McAleese, she's obviously playing the long game. Kowtow to the Turks now, improve trade relations even though it's likely the bigger EU countries will veto their entry. On the offchance they do get in, we'll be on their good side as the Turkish invasion spreads westward until inevitable death-by-winning-eurovision-too-much.

Liber8or

I am going throw my two cents in here.

Before Turkey will be able to join the E.U, the various Balkan States would be given priority option to enter first. This would include Armenia etc, as they are clearly more in Europe (geographically, if that is how you define Europe as a continent) than their Turk counter-parts.

A little look at history and we will see that if Armenia joins the E.U it will be a very long long time before Turkey will join due to the events that transpired in 1913 (roughly 100,000 Armenians were killed by the Ottoman (present day Turkey) Empire). The Armenians today call it a genocide, a U.S Committee has recently come out and called it a genocide. Turkey is very strongly guarded against even acknowledging people died.

As long as that barrier is there, Turkey won't be going to Brussels anytime soon. And then there is the religious, moral, and economic demographic breakdown to also take into account.. :P

wes

Liber8or wrote: »

I am going throw my two cents in here.

Before Turkey will be able to join the E.U, the various Balkan States would be given priority option to enter first. This would include Armenia etc, as they are clearly more in Europe (geographically, if that is how you define Europe as a continent) than their Turk counter-parts.

A little look at history and we will see that if Armenia joins the E.U it will be a very long long time before Turkey will join due to the events that transpired in 1913 (roughly 100,000 Armenians were killed by the Ottoman (present day Turkey) Empire). The Armenians today call it a genocide, a U.S Committee has recently come out and called it a genocide. Turkey is very strongly guarded against even acknowledging people died.

As long as that barrier is there, Turkey won't be going to Brussels anytime soon. And then there is the religious, moral, and economic demographic breakdown to also take into account.. :P

The problem with Armenia is that they are currently occupying a chunk of Azerbaijan, so I don't think the EU wants that problem.

Here is more info on the conflict:

From CIA World factbook:
Disputes - international:

Field info displayed for all countries in alpha order.
Armenia supports ethnic Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh and since the early 1990s has militarily occupied 16% of Azerbaijan; over 800,000 mostly ethnic Azerbaijanis were driven from the occupied lands and Armenia; about 230,000 ethnic Armenians were driven from their homes in Azerbaijan into Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh; Azerbaijan seeks transit route through Armenia to connect to Naxcivan exclave; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continues to mediate dispute; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia have ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on an even one-fifth allocation and challenges Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters; bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian; Azerbaijan and Georgia continue to discuss the alignment of their boundary at certain crossing areas

I don't think Aremnian is in a better position to join than Turkey.

triCrescent

Theta wrote: »

Turkey is to far east in my mind. Currently they are courting the middle east for better relations while saying they are fully commited to being in europe but showing little progress of that.

Anyway it will take decades for them to even meet the minimum standards to enter not to mentions the greeks and cypriots dont like the whole cyprus situation.

Good relations with Turkey are worth about 400 millions squid a year to Ireland though.

Hmmmm, are we talking about the minimum standards that Romania met?

pickarooney

Turkey will join, but by then there'll be a breakaway European Union with only the elite countries playing one another four times a season exclusively live on SKY sports.

Theta

triCrescent wrote: »

Hmmmm, are we talking about the minimum standards that Romania met?

Ehhh I think your thinking about how well the country looks rather then laws and freedoms there champ!

problemchimp

Theta wrote: »

Ehhh I think your thinking about how well the country looks rather then laws and freedoms there champ!

I don't think tricrescent is going on geographical info, probably more to do with the fact that Romania couldn't reduce their interest rates, sort out mafia problems etc.... Bulgaria also had similar problems.

triCrescent

Theta wrote: »

Ehhh I think your thinking about how well the country looks rather then laws and freedoms there champ!

You can start here...

kraggy

Rented Mule wrote: »

They also love them because they are an Islamic country that isn't run by a bunch of fanatics.

No it's not.

It's secular.

old hippy

Theta wrote: »

Turkey is to far east in my mind...

Good relations with Turkey are worth about 400 millions squid a year to Ireland though.

Ah, so it's about the money. Of course! And how can Turkey be too far east? What does that mean?

problemchimp

Rented Mule wrote: »

They also love them because they are an Islamic country that isn't run by a bunch of fanatics.

secular as stated. do they think we are child rapists 'cause this is a Catholic country? c'mon , a bit of reality here.

Coriolanus

Plus Armenia is further east, so from a geographical perspective that makes little sense?

Stinicker

Nevore wrote: »

Plus Armenia is further east, so from a geographical perspective that makes little sense?

Armenia is European and unlike Turkey is ethnically and religiously European, I'd have no problem with say New Zealand or Australia joining as they are "European" societies in all but geography.

Theta

Nevore wrote: »

Plus Armenia is further east, so from a geographical perspective that makes little sense?

As the above poster said.

old hippy wrote: »

Ah, so it's about the money. Of course! And how can Turkey be too far east? What does that mean?

And its not about money. I said thats why the Prez is supporting it. I wouldnt support Turkey joining the EU and for the second part read above

kraggy wrote: »

No it's not.

It's secular.

With the current government leaning towards an Islamic state there is much fear among the secularists at the moment. They are trying to have the current ruling party banned.

wes

Theta wrote: »

With the current government leaning towards an Islamic state there is much fear among the secularists at the moment. They are trying to have the current ruling party banned.

They failed with the ban, and there have been major arrest of ultra nationalist secularist terrorists, who wanted to murder Orhan Pamuk of all people, as well as plot attacks to destabilise the state, to oust the current government. So, its not like both sides don't have there extremists.

Also, the current ruling party have actually brought Turkeys laws closer to the European norm, more so than the secularist parties have ever done. I would say many of there claims are largely baseless, as the AKP party have changed a lot of laws etc to try and get into the EU. Now recently this process has slowed down, as the acension process slowed, but the fact remains that they made more positive changes than other parties.