Valery Giscard d'Estaing, President of the 'European Convention', an important assembly to shape European Union's (EU) future legal and administrative architecture, announced Le Monde on 8 November 2002 that "Turkey can not be admitted as a member to the EU, simply because it is Asian".1 With these words Giscard d'Estaing not only expressed his objection, as an outstanding figure in the EU, to Turkey's integration with Europe, but he also opened the Pandora's Box. Following him, a growing debate over Turkey's place in Europe and its identity has been intensified. Those who defend the idea that EU should continue its close relations with Turkey but should not let it in, mostly depend on the `cultural difference' assumption.

Valery Giscard d'Estaing, President of the 'European Convention', an important assembly to shape European Union's (EU) future legal and administrative architecture, announced Le Monde on 8 November 2002 that "Turkey can not be admitted as a member to the EU, simply because it is Asian".1 With these words Giscard d'Estaing not only expressed his objection, as an outstanding figure in the EU, to Turkey's integration with Europe, but he also opened the Pandora's Box. Following him, a growing debate over Turkey's place in Europe and its identity has been intensified. Those who defend the idea that EU should continue its close relations with Turkey but should not let it in, mostly depend on the `cultural difference' assumption.