Is Turkish EU membership now dead in the water?

An interesting question posed by Michael Heaver on a UKIP supporting blog. Apparently the unelected EU President, Herman van Rompuy, has had this to say in the past about the prospects for Turkey's membership of the EU:

"Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe. An expansion of the EU to include Turkey cannot be considered as just another expansion as in the past".

"The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigour with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey."

Of course nobody should believe that just because Herman van Rompuy said this in the past that he meant it and/or will stick to this line in the future. There are people in the EU and elsewhere that will brook no opposition to their plans and the concerns of 'the people' are of no concern to them.