A graveyard of ambition

ONE of Turkey’s more forlorn sights is tucked down an Ankara side street inside the EU affairs ministry. At the top of a small staircase lurks a poster depicting a sprawling tree, its lower branches bereft and leafless but its top half a lush burst of greenery. A caption explains the symbolism: “Let’s bring a dynamic industry, young workforce and unique cultural diversity to freshen and revive the European Union. By welcoming Turkey.”

This relic speaks of a happier time, when Turkey was confident enough in its bid for EU membership to present itself as a tonic to a tired continent. Travel around the country today, as Charlemagne did last week on a trip organised by the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank, and you encounter a different mood. For many Turks opposed to the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, the EU’s name means betrayal.