Turkey presents a particular problem for Europeans as they consider whether it should join the European Union. The issue seems to invite identity questions along the following lines: "Are they like us? Are they not so different in values, culture and religious practice that we cannot share a political community with them?"
These questions are in fact also about Europeans themselves: "Who are we and what are we like? What are the relevant values, cultures and beliefs that bring us together?"
Such questions cannot be answered abstractly or by cultural introspection alone, nor only by geography or history. They require accurate reportage, information and analysis about contemporary Turkey and its developing relations with a European Union that is equally evolving. We need to know more about our differences and similarities with this other society. Nor can these questions be answered prematurely, since the EU negotiations with Turkey will take another 10 years and its accession, if agreed, may not happen until 2020, during which time both sides will have changed.
Lara Marlowe's reports on Turkey over the last month help readers of this newspaper understand it better. It is a more rich, complex and surprising picture than many may have realised. Turkey is a dynamic society going through an extraordinary political and economic transformation. Having been run for decades by a secular and military elite inspired by Kemal Ataturk's nationalist revolution in the 1920s, Turkey is now governed by the centre right Justice and Development Party (AKP) which emerged from Islamic movements but is no longer determined by that past.
It has just been returned to power on a strong popular mandate, led by one of the most impressive figures in contemporary European politics, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The party combines a radical reformist programme with more conservative social values. It represents a new commercial class with roots in Anatolia and a broad appeal throughout the country. Its reformism has been centrally inspired by the aspiration to join the EU, believed to vindicate the AKP's programme of change by better recognising Turkey's own diversity.
Turkey's national mentality and character are strikingly alert and sensitive to external attitudes and criticism. This is evident during the ebbs and flows of EU negotiations. Rapid mood swings follow negative responses to Turkey's membership application. The same volatility applies to the recent crisis with the US over the Armenian catastrophe during the first World War and the current much more serious one on Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq.
The existential questions posed by Turkey's application to join the EU need a long period of open engagement. They should not be foreclosed at this stage by those who object in principle to such a large state with an Islamic culture. We have a lot to gain from Turkey's dynamism, difference and location but need more time to learn about them and decide how best to respond.