Raphael Israeli, a professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University, has a piece warning of the rise of Islamism in Turkey, and arguing that the Europeans may have good reason to be wary of letting Turkey into the European Union: Important to Understand the Islamic Sway Over Turkey. (Hat tip: Allah.)

This is the context in which one has to see the revived debate about the entrance of Turkey into the European Union. Right are those heads of the Union, like Kohl, Giscard, and Berlusconi, who shun this union of Middle Eastern MuslimswithEurope which is still essentially Western, if not practically Christian. Their fears are well-founded: if to their 400 million basically Europeans, Westerners, and Christians they add another 60 million Muslims, part of whom do not seek adaptation to the West but transformation thereof, then we are in for a great clash of cultures and friction between traditions, rather than a harmony that multi-ethnic societies could ideally produce, but unfortunately seldom do.

The recent Bosnia and Kosovo wars and the tremendous hazards that the 25 millions Muslims already in Europe present to the local peace, ought to be more than a warning. Obviously, that threat is not universal, for many of the Muslims who settled in Europe went either to seek asylum from the tyrannies in their home countries or to look for better job opportunities. But not a few of them have aligned with the fundamentalists among them, who seem to hold the leadership in many localities, notably France and Belgium.

Thus, whatever the official “pretexts” of certain European members of the European Unionin their rejection of accepting Turkey in their midst, the truth is that they fear the effect of close to 20% Muslim population in Europe, should Turkey join. Due to their rapid demographic growth, they may double their percentage within the population within a few decades, and if they insist like the Muslim fundamentalists now already established on altering Europe, this may spell out trouble.