The Duel
© GERAINT LEWIS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK, JLIMAGES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
YES There was a moment when it seemed possible, almost natural, that Turkey would join the European Union. In 2005 Turkish support for membership was around 80 per cent. Many felt already European in a land that began its westernisation in the 18th century. How ready we were to be accepted into Europe. We who had grown up reading Honoré de Balzac, Miguel de Cervantes, Johann von Goethe and Charles Dickens, and loved them all.