Turkey for NAFTA
Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2002 - "In today's discussion I proposed to President Bush that they take us into NAFTA." So said Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington this week.

We think it's a brilliant idea. In the global economy, physical proximity matters little. And if the European Union leaders meeting today in Copenhagen won't give Turkey a firm date for membership talks, the U.S. should assume responsibility for further anchoring Turkey to the West.

There was no word on how the President received Mr. Erdogan's suggestion, though by all accounts their meeting went marvelously.

"We have a common tie," the Turkish media reports Mr. Bush saying. "You are a man of faith and I am a man of faith. You have no shame about saying that. I have no shame about saying that." The President went on to stress how their common outlooks on the world, especially Iraq, were governed by morality and not crude realpolitik.

Such comments were no doubt welcomed by Mr. Erdogan, who faces a skeptical establishment at home and in Europe.

His Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party won a landslide victory in November parliamentary elections, but he cannot assume the post of Prime Minister until changes are made in the country's strict secularism laws, which the former Istanbul mayor violated by reading a religious poem at a rally some years back.

The White House's decision nonetheless to receive him as a head of government was a savvy expression of support for the will of Turkish voters and for Muslim democrats generally.

The President followed up with phone calls on Turkey's behalf to European Union leaders. But clearly Mr. Erdogan isn't confident Europeans will overcome their long-standing prejudices. Turkey originally applied for membership way back in 1960.

Further integrating Turkey , long a loyal NATO member, into Western organizations isn't just about assuring its critical cooperation in disarming Iraq. It's about affirming the possibility of Muslim countries enjoying full membership in the modern world.

And with secular Turkey now headed by an avowedly religious leader, the "Turkish model" only has added relevance to aspiring democrats in the Middle East.

If NAFTA membership would send them the right signals, we see no reason at all to object.