Word: membership
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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There's a bigger problem: the relationship between Turkey and the E.U. is now so testy that even technical talks, like the ones over energy transit, are becoming politically charged. Turkey started negotiating E.U. membership in 2005. But progress has been slow for a number of reasons. There has been obstruction from France, Germany and a few other E.U. members who are not keen on a predominantly Muslim country of 70 million joining their club. There has also been political turmoil in Turkey, where the highest court only last year threw out a case on the closure of the ruling...
...carrot of E.U. membership is one way of scaling back the military's influence. "A chief condition of joining the E.U. is that the military is transparent and accountable to parliament," says Kardas. But that process has largely stalled, with European leaders divided over Turkey's future membership. New hope has arrived in the shape of U.S. President Barack Obama, who will visit Turkey next week and whose administration is keen to have Turkey - Muslim yet officially secular and democratic - play a larger role in the region...
...reality until 1991. Since then, both nations have been paralyzed by economic crisis and political turmoil. Until the situation in these countries is stabilized—which, given the international financial crisis, may not occur for a few more years—NATO should be reluctant to grant them Membership Action Plans. The Partnership for Peace program—which encompasses a far larger group of countries with a distinct interest in maintaining political stability on the continent—should instead be used as a dialogue to mediate between these states and their former imperial master...
...Aside from the Bush missile plan, one of the most heavily debated and controversial issues in European security affairs is the continued expansion of NATO into geopolitically unstable regions of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Specifically, the issue of Ukrainian or Georgian membership has been of significant import to the future of the alliance. While Ukrainian aspirations to the alliance are particularly strong (and emotionally affective, given the tragic history of that country), NATO leaders should proceed cautiously and not be afraid to deny admission to these two countries...
Young, who also noted that he thought that teacher membership in the commission had been low, added that he would remedy this by reconvening the group this summer and inviting more teachers to participate...