By Anwar Akhtar

Melanie Mcdonagh’s article published in the Evening Standard on Thursday raises some interesting issues, although her view that an increased number of Muslims living in London is something to worry about concerns me.

I do not think Melanie is hostile to Muslims. Her article was not rude or aggressive and did actually raise many fair questions - I suspect she is a jolly nice person. But I have to ask why it matters to her, if lots of people from Turkey migrate to the UK any more than people from Poland, the USA, Israel, Australia, Iceland or Mexico.

Having spent a fair amount of time in Istanbul recently, I found it ticks all the boxes when it comes to a liberal, open and pluralistic society. One of the few places in the Muslim world where you see women drinking cocktails within eye shot of great historic mosques, and then turn a corner to find a gay bar that would not look out of place in Soho. It’s even got it own Arts Biennale.

There is also a strong case to be made that it has more freedom of the press and racial tolerance than say Moscow. That is not to say it is perfect as shown by the recent trials of the writer Orhan Pamuk, for "insulting Turkishness" by discussing the history of Turkey and the expulsions and killings of Armenians and Kurds.

There are political factors that will, in any case restrict Turkey from joining the EU any time soon. Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel appear to have added a condition to negotiations surrounding Turkey's admission to the EU - this being the need for Hell to Freeze over first.

If this condition is some how met, it’s obvious that EU technocrats and politicians alike, have learnt from experiences from Poland’s membership. There will be a migration quota or cap, linked to Turkey joining the EU.  So thousands of people will not suddenly decant to Tottenham or Hackney from Istanbul or Ankara, even if they wished to.

Turkey’s place in Europe does seem to cause hysteria, intellectual confusion and historical revisionism amongst Neo Con Eurabia anti Muslim networks that are active in the UK. Byzantine Constantinople was very much in Europe and part of European history of course, from the last capital of the Roman Empire, to a launch pad of the crusades. Istanbul - well that is Muslim though, so nothing to do with Europe. Taking this argument to its logical but ludicrous limit, Hagia Sophia is European culture whilst the Blue Mosque is not.

Among British Muslims, you find divergence on Turkey. There tends to be a few voices, the ‘me more Muslim than you’ types, who look down upon Turkey’s accommodation of secular traditions, especially the huge legacy of Ataturk and Turkey’s active liberal networks and history. But I find most are delighted that it has preserved one of the greatest living concentrations of Muslim culture, history and heritage, alongside building a thriving economic and cultural world power.  The history of Turkey, like any other large powerful nation, is complex, layered and multi cultural as well.  I see a lot to admire in Turkey and let’s face it, in terms of leadership and forward thinking in the Muslim world, there is not much competition between Istanbul and the human rights abusing dictators and oligarchs at the The House of Saud.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s outspoken criticism of the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla that led to the death of nine Turkish citizens and subsequent cooling of relations between Turkey and Israel, has also been used by some as an argument that Turkey does not belong in Europe, including the usual gnashing of teeth by Melanie Philips.

Whilst I do not see Turkey joining the EU any time soon, because of domestic EU politics, I think Britain would be foolish not to reach out and build the strongest possible relations with Turkey.

With the rise of China and India, Turkey as a market, producer and rising economic power is not far behind and is well positioned to compete with them. Any reader of the Economist or the FT will have noticed the increasing focus on Turkey - GDP is up and up, there is a young demographic, good education standards, good work ethic, powerful military, good industrial infrastructure, good transport hubs, great maritime traditions, outward looking elites busy building markets, willingness to travel and can build empire. Sound familiar?

Turkey also has something else - huge cultural capital - not dissimilar to what Britain had for most of the last century and still has large reserves of today. Turkey was a massive empire and today the legacy of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, Asia and the Arab world has left a profoundly deep footprint. Something the current leadership in Turkey have woken up to, previous ones having been rather more internally focused and content to be a marginal player in the Cold War.

With great sums of Arab money being invested in Turkey and its own rapidly developing confidence as a regional power broker with global ambitions, make Istanbul a place where many Muslims including secular groups look to for inspiration - be they in Karachi, Cairo or London.

There is a rare cross party consensus that Britain would be wise to strengthen relations with Turkey and David Cameron strongly endorsed Turkish accession to the EU during his vist to Ankara in August 2010. This consensus is the right thing, both in terms of international relations and in Britain’s own interest. Turkey can now choose to look West or to look East. I personally hope it does both.

First posted on Dale & Co