Turkey's fate has always been closely intertwined with that of Europe. The Ottoman Empire once extended as far west as Budapest, and Ataturk's republican revolution was as much about keeping Turkey in Europe as it was about establishing a state free of religious control. When the European Economic Community, as it was then called, was coming together, Turkey applied to join -- that was in 1959. Over time, it achieved "associate" status, a free trade relationship and finally, in 2005, "candidate" status to join what is now the much larger European Union. But it still is not a member.

After the revolutions in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, eight former communist countries joined the EU ahead of Turkey -- including two with weaker economies. The Erdogan government has adopted extensive reforms -- abolishing the death penalty, for example -- in an attempt to satisfy the Europeans, but the response has been delay after delay.

Recent polls in Turkey show support for the EU at roughly half of what it had been. Many Turks fear that whatever else the EU might say, the real reason Turkey remains a non-member was revealed by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who famously dismissed Turkey as "not a European country." This provoked derision from Turks who noted that Cyprus -- a full EU member -- lies 400 miles east of Istanbul. Proposals by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a "privileged partnership" are received by Turks the way Western Pennsylvanians viewed US Airways' designation of Pittsburgh as a "focus city" instead of a hub. They don't buy it.

Europe's response is undoubtedly complicated by its tense and sometimes violent relationship with its rapidly growing Muslim minorities. The prospect of Turkish membership forces Europeans to consider whether the EU should remain a club only of predominantly Christian nations.

Cyprus also remains a major obstacle. A former British colony, Cyprus was the target of an attempted coup in 1974, sponsored by the military government then ruling Greece. Turkey landed some 40,000 troops in the Turkish northern part of the island and created a separate state, recognized by no one else. The state, and the troops, remain, with Greek Cypriots governing the rest of the island.

When Cyprus applied to join the EU in 2004, the Europeans supported a U.N. unification plan which Ankara and the Turkish community on Cyprus supported but the Greek community rejected. The EU admitted Cyprus anyway, promising not to leave the roughly 100,000 Turks on the island isolated. But little has been done and Turkish refusal to deal with the Greek Cypriot government means that Turkey's movement on the road to EU membership remains at a standstill.

-- R.L.