The European Union's agreement to open membership negotiations with Turkey at its summit in Brussels yesterday is a milestone in its development and that of European civilisation as a whole.
For the first time a major Islamic country bordering the Middle East has been accepted as a fit candidate to join the EU.
The decision is based on the normative, democratic and geographical criteria governing EU enlargement set out in Copenhagen 11 years ago and filled out in the intense negotiations with 12 states since then. Ten of them joined the EU on May 1st at a ceremony in Dublin. Yesterday it was also agreed that Romania and Bulgaria will join in 2007, and that talks will open with Croatia, which aspires to join then too.
The negotiations with Turkey will be difficult, prolonged and are not guaranteed to succeed. Their launch yesterday was soured by different interpretations of what the conditions attached will mean for the future of Cyprus, now a full EU member-state. But this should not obscure the historic nature of the overall agreement reached.
Turkey has agreed to negotiate on the full range of the relevant criteria, having earned the right to do so by an extraordinary effort of political and legal reform over the last two years. Theirs is a legalistic culture, which must be put to a rigorous test of implementation in the decade to come. Only by demonstrating that these reforms have been applied in practice and command real popular support within Turkish society will they convince sceptical publics in EU member-states that full Turkish membership is feasible and desirable.
That is a major gamble - but a progressive and welcome one well worth the effort involved by both sides. If successfully achieved, it will change both European and Turkish attitudes and cultures through a process of mutual adaptation and learning. The ripple effects of such a dynamic could change the world for the better by showing that different cultures and peoples can co-exist and interact harmoniously at a time when such evidence is badly needed in international politics.
The demanding conditions attached by the Brussels summit can ensure that the deep reservations currently evident in EU member-states are overcome - even if subject to referendums, as Austria and France said they would be yesterday. That would be in 10 or 15 years time. In the meantime the world will have changed - helped along, it is to be hoped, by the process agreed yesterday.
This decision brings an eventful year in the EU's political and foreign policy development to an ambitious end. Under Ireland's presidency for the first six months agreement was reached on the new constitutional treaty, ratification of which will become embroiled with the Turkish issue in coming months. Political leaders now have a challenging but rewarding opportunity to show both of these tasks are worthy of support by parliaments and citizens alike.