And as usual when abroad, doing my best to talk politics with the locals. Curious thing...I've met no one who wants Turkey in the EU. Quite a few who admit having wanted to a few years ago, but none now. Can't say I'm surprised though I should note in passing that any reference to Turkey as anything other than a European nation is met with a protest. (For example, my flight back to Paris is, as with many flights from the middle east, at a very late hour, here at 4am. I've remarked that in Amman or Muscat there are great places in the airport where, once past security, one can sleep in waiting for the flight, and asked if here in Antalya it is the same, to which the reply has been no, it's just like in Paris, do you have the same there? To which of course the answer is no...non plus.)

I'd also add that all about me is growth. Construction everywhere, motorways being built or upgraded, new businesses opening, unemployment low, very low by European standards. The other day, in central Turkey, I chatted with a young Frenchman of Turkish origin from Lons Le Saunier, on vacation to visit grandparents, but who within a week of being here was offered a job. He tells me he's probably not going back.

Seing what I see is similar to what I saw in similarly promising and European Spain, 25 years ago. With the exception that the Turks don't have a German central bank to block their development and growth. And, if I were a young man, 25 years ago, I'd probably be learning Turkish, because this place looks like a place to be in many respects.

Hell, I may just learn Turkish at my own (middle) age.

I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from them Eugene Debs