Ambassador visit, E.U. vote talk highlight CU Turkey conference

By Linda Myers

While subjects ranged from trade to foreign relations to women's headscarves, the issue on most people's minds at the Dec. 3-4 Cornell conference "European Turkey: Modernization, Secularism and Islam" was the upcoming Dec. 17 European Union vote on whether to admit the Westernized, secular, predominantly Islamic country into the E.U.

O. Faruk Logoglu, Turkey's ambassador to the United States, left, chats with students in the A.D. White House Dec. 3 following his opening talk on Turkey in the 21st century at the "European Turkey: Modernization, Secularism and Islam" conference. With him are, left to right, graduate students Celim Yildizhan, Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Deniz Barisik '06, psychology. In background at right is Martin Hatch, associate professor of music. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

"People at the conference were overwhelmingly in favor of the idea of Turkey joining the European Union," said conference organizer Gail Holst-Warhaft, who directs the Mediterranean Initiative at Cornell's Institute for European Studies. Even if the vote is favorable, it will take many years before Turkey becomes a full member of the E.U., she noted. But Europe stands to gain from admitting Turkey because of its own falling birth rate, aging workforce and lack of cheap labor, while Turkey, with its 72 million people, offers a larger workforce and a younger culture, she commented. "Turkey's presence in Europe, while seen by some as a threat to the traditional Christian culture of Europe, is viewed by others as a means of averting Islamic extremism by including a secular, predominately Muslim country in its community."

Attendance at the conference was overwhelming, much more than expected, and discussions were engaging and passionate, Holst-Warhaft said. The event attracted students from as far away as Rochester, Binghamton and Syracuse universities as well as Cornell undergraduate and graduate students and faculty with an interest in Turkey.

"What's unique is we're looking at the effect of Islam in Europe," said Holst-Warhaft of both the conference and Mediterranean Initiative.

In addition to opening speaker O. Faruk Logoglu, the Turkish ambassador to the United States, who was introduced by Tommy Bruce, Cornell vice president of communications and media relations, speakers included Kemal Gürüz, of Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and faculty affiliated with universities throughout the United States and Turkey. Sponsors included the Cornell/Syracuse Upstate New York Consortium for Trans-European Studies, Comparative Muslim Societies, and these Cornell units: Cornell Cinema, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences International Programs, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Music and Near Eastern Studies departments and the Turkish Student Association. The event included performances by Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble and Ithaca's Chandani dance troupe.