Suchergebnisse

Stéphane de Tapia
Europe, Asia, Eurasia, Turks and Tatars – or how to lay down the improbable eastern border
Turkey's declaration as a candidate to the European Union and above all, the actual approach towards opening negotiations, have sparked off an ardent debate throughout the European Community as to the "non-European" or "Asiatic", and in any case non-conform, nature of this application to the EU. The issue even played a part in the discussions and results of the Referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, probably substantially fuelling the Dutch and French "no". What does geography have to say on limits and belonging ? Everything and its opposite ! Not that geographers have nothing interesting to say on the subject, but geography is often used here as an alibi for shameful and relatively worrying arguments as to the moral and mental health of these undetectable Europeans, who definitely exist (we meet them every day) and who are, moreover, somewhat nice. Failing a definitive answer which can but be political, this contribution proposes a reflection on Western Europe, that customarily thinks of itself as Christian (even with lay definitions), maritime, and limited by the Ocean (Finis Terrae), and which is suddenly confronted with the vertigo of infinite horizons represented by the Steppe and the Taiga, which are Muslim, sometimes Buddhist and further on even Shamanist. At the beginning of the 21st century, does Turkey represent for a number of Europeans what the Russians in colourful, but very eloquent terms call "the stranger next door" ? In other words, when the collective imagination of Mehmet knocks at the door, it's Attila and Genghis who invite themselves in !