The E.U. needs Turkey because Turkey has a young population (and therefore a young workforce) and someone is going to have to pay the taxes that will be needed

The E.U. needs Turkey because Turkey has a young population (and therefore a young workforce) and someone is going to have to pay the taxes that will be needed to support all those European pensioners. The US needs Turkey for it's strategic geography that allows the airbase at Incirik to be a forward base for any operations near China, Russia, or really anywhere else in Asia. Russia needs to be friendly with Turkey because Turkey controls the only alternate pipeways to get gas and oil from Asia to Europe. Turkey also controls the Bosporus, which is one of the only ways for cargo ships to reach Russia. Also, read up on the canal that Turkey has just announced plans to build. (See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/27/istanbul-new-bosphorus-canal http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/27/istanbul-new-bos...) If they go through with it, this new shipping channel will allow them to bypass a number of limitations placed by international agreements on shipping through the Bosporus. The middle east has historical ties with Turkey. Also, Turkey has been really smart about sensing the impending power shift in the region from Israel to the emerging Arab societies, and so they have allowed their relations with Israel to atrophy a bit (but not too much) while playing the part of the champion for persecuted populations in the middle east. See, for example, how they're allowing Syrian refugees to settle in Turkey for an indefinite period, and how Angelina Jolie thanked the Turkish gov't for their help (if you can't trust a celebrity, who can you trust?): http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=angelina-jolie-arrives-in-southern-turkey-2011-06-17 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=angelina-jolie-arri... Iran needs Turkey because it's one of the last countries that they can still bank with, though they are skirting the line there: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=us-officals-warned-turkish-banks-on-iran-milliyet-says-2010-09-06 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=us-officals-warned-... China needs Turkey because it's still the quickest way to get to Europe without going through Russia, and they are even looking to construct a railway based on that premise: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turks-chinese-to-build-high-speed-train-lines-across-turkey-2010-10-15 http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turks-chinese-to-bu... Turkey has a society that is rapidly modernizing, but unlike many of their European brethren (and the US), they still have a vibrant manufacturing sector. For example, most of the cars driven in Europe are manufactured in Turkey. So, yeah...Turkey is definitely one to watch (along with the rest of the CIVETS countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIVETS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIVETS).