Erdoğan: “Europe, you don’t want us because we’re Muslim”

Historically - from the Romans and Byzantines to the Ottomans

By that logic we should bring Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt into the EU as well because they've got close historical ties to Europe. Hell, for significant amounts of time these countries were directly controlled by Europeans! ... But so was the Philippines, should we bring the Philippines into the EU as well? How about Singapore?

Anyway, The Byzantines were actually European (Greeks) ruled by an authority that traced its roots to the Roman Emperors.

it is not for nothing they were called "the sick man of Europe"

Fun fact, nobody is sure they were ever described as that. It's thought that "of Europe" was added by a journalist and not actually said by anybody of importance.

Turkey has been influenced by many different cultures - both Asian and European.

Sure, that's cool and all, but they aren't European. They're middle-eastern. They came to Anatolia in force with the Seljuq Empire from middle-east proper. They drove the Greeks out of Anatolia and resettled the area permanently. Here's an image for context. They might share some cultural touchstones with us now, but they are not Europeans in the truest sense of it.

just take Istanbul as an example.

You mean Constantinople, the Orthodox Christian capital city that the Turkish invaders sacked, desecrated and then renamed?

Cyprus is not located in continental Europe, yet it is still a european country, since its history and culture is european.

Totally different deal for a number of reasons. Cyprus is home to a substantial number of Greek Cypriots who can trace their origins on the island back thousands of years. If Greeks are European (they are) then so are Greek Cypriots.

Also, it spent a pretty substantial portion of the 19th-20th century annexed by Britain, during which time a lot of Cypriots repatriated to the UK bringing relations between the two pretty close.

You're right that geographically it falls outside of the traditional sphere of Europe but it is historically a European island and is populated by Europeans who have been there longer than Turks have been west of the Caspian Sea.

/r/worldnews Thread Parent Link - theturkishsun.com