As true love goes, any declared affirmation of affection between Turkey and Europe will always be best seen as a brief encounter, which fades as the affair fizzles. When observed from France, Germany or even Austria, the main and maybe only value of even considering Turkey as a member of the Christian Club of Europe known as the European Union is based on a thought that goes “better we have them than someone else gets them.” That someone else falls into a choice of two. Ankara could for years, if not decades, be drawn under the influence of the resurgent Russians under the continued guidance of Vladimir Putin, who is destined to continue running the country in one guise or another. The alternative, as the French and the Austrians believe quite possible but dare not openly say, is that a country composed of 95% Muslims and led by a self-confessed
