Worldwise: Turkey and the Arab Spring (Steven A. Cook & Mustafa Akyol)

[Stapler Malone]

Originally Posted by Florian

The official "policy" of the US State Department is that the European Union should open its doors to Turkey.

The quotes around policy are well-placed. Just because that's what will be said from podiums doesn't mean that anyone is putting any effort behind it. In the early 1990s there was a good bit of American apprehension that a united Europe would displace the USA as a superpower (haha, good times); in many powerful corners of the US gov't it was seen as important to slow-roll Turkish accession to Europe in order to keep Europe from getting too strong.