Heres a couple older articles about Turkey and the European Union and the support of Britain and especially the US. This should give some background for the story I am working on about the Turkish community in Germany and their reactions to the issue of Turkey and the EU.
Turkey could make the EU a much more powerful political player. Yet the support of the US is perhaps a double edged sword. Who wants that and who doesnt?
BBC News - Bush backs Turkey's EU efforts
BBC News - Thorny Issues for the EU
Bush Backs Turkey's EU Efforts
By Rob Watson
BBC Washington correspondent
US President George Bush has strongly backed Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
He expressed his support during talks at the White House with the leader of Turkey's ruling party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a sign of just how seriously the US is courting Turkey, Mr Erdogan was given time not just with President Bush, but with some of his most senior advisers as well.
With a smiling Mr Erdogan close by, the president said the US stood side-by-side with Turkey in its desire to become a member of the European Union.
It is a matter of great strategic importance to the Bush administration.
The US sees Turkey as a potential role model for other predominantly Muslim countries, and believes its embrace of secular democracy should be rewarded and encouraged by EU membership.
In diplomacy, though, there is often a catch.
The US also hopes that backing Turkey's efforts to join the EU will, in turn, lead to Ankara supporting possible military action against Iraq.
For his part, Mr Erdogan said joining the European Union was the most important modernisation project for his country since the creation of the Turkish state after the collapse of the Ottoman empire.
EU member countries are due to discuss enlargement of the union this weekend, though Turkey is not expected to be given a chance a join anything like as early as it would like to.
Thorny Issues for the EU
By Roger Hardy
BBC regional analyst
A sharp debate has erupted following the European Union's decision that Turkey will have to wait at least two more years before it is invited to start negotiations on membership.
Britain has been pushing for Turkish EU entry
Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has strongly criticised the decision - while the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, defended the EU's handling of Turkey's application to join.
Britain is one of the countries which has argued that paving the way for Turkish membership of the EU would send a positive signal to the Muslim world.
It would show that Europe was not anti-Muslim - and that a modern Muslim country is capable of being integrated with the West.
But as the mood in Copenhagen descends into mutual recrimination, it is clear that the Turkish question has become entangled with a whole host of issues that are not easy to reconcile.
The relationship between Islam and the West is only one of them.
Europe's concern
For the United States, the issue is essentially strategic. As it prepares for a possible war against Iraq, it sees Turkey as an invaluable ally.
The Europeans see that as only one issue among many - and resent the heavy pressure President Bush has brought to bear on them.
The summit showed that historic changes need imaginative leadership
They see integrating Turkey as a huge challenge, and one that cannot be rushed. For some EU members, the priority is human rights.
Others fear that Turkish membership - and the free movement of Turkish workers throughout Europe - would fuel anti-immigrant sentiment.
When tempers have cooled, it may become possible for Turkey and the EU to realise the historic significance of what has been achieved at Copenhagen.
This is that Europe is preparing to redefine itself in an important way, and that this gives Turkey a unique chance to complete its transition to democracy and modernity.
But the other message from this summit is that historic change takes time, and needs imaginative leadership on all sides.