Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Hāshim Sālih argues that Turkey’s adherence to the European Union is of vital importance, since it concerns both the Islamic world and the West and falls within the so-called intercultural dialogue or clash. Yet whenever the subject of Turkey’s accession is brought up, Western fears of terrorism and fundamentalist Islam spring up, and Islamic fears of secularism and laws that void the Islamic identity



The author wonders whether the gap between the two worlds can be bridged, and if so, by whom?



French President, Jacque Chirac, believes that the rejection of Turkey by the EU would be humiliating and could create antagonism towards the West, perhaps leaving Turkey wide open to fundamentalism and fanaticism. Hāshim Sālih states that this situation highlights the wide gap between Turkey and the secular values of the West.