From Mr John Szemerey.

Sir, John Thornhill is absolutely right in pointing to the need to have Turkey in the European Union and at the disillusionment in Turkey – and much of the Arab and Islamic world – if Europe decides to keep Turkey out (“The danger in dashing Turkey's European dream”, April 28).

In the Middle East, Europe's admission or exclusion of Turkey is seen as a weathervane of European honesty and of European good intentions towards Islamic countries. If for internal political reasons President Nicolas Sarkozy of France manages to persuade the European Union to reverse its policy towards Turkey, as he has reversed France's earlier support for Turkish membership, he will be doing a great disservice not only to Europe but to the world. He will then make unstable the most stable country in the Near and Middle East.

In addition to the points Mr Thornhill makes, we should not forget that Turkey has been a member of the Council of Europe since 1949.

The Council of Europe is limited to European countries, and no one – certainly not France – has ever objected to or questioned Turkey's membership. If France wants to stand on its head, that is a matter for France. But it must not be allowed to drag the rest of Europe into a vertical U-turn by failing to keep its word that Turkey is welcome to enter the EU, provided its conformity with the EU treaties can be negotiated satisfactorily.

Turkey has already advanced a great deal in the past few years. Laws and traditions are being modernised. Even the new president of Cyprus is behaving in a more civilised way than his predecessor towards the Turkish community on the island. It would be tragic if Europe's doors were now slammed in Turkey's face and it reacted by becoming an extreme Islamic state.

John Szemerey,
B-3090 Overijse, Belgium