Greece has recently become the black sheep of the EU. That is a shame. By the look of the things, the EU is an organization run by myriad of rules and regulations. Accession is difficult and time taking. One would expect, no country stands a chance to enter before achieving full compliance. For example, Turkey has been left outside of the organization since she has not been able to achieve full compliance.

The EU members said good bye to their national currencies, adopted Euro and began trading as chartered by the EU decision makers. This scheme did not work in Greece. Life has become more expensive and the people began moaning about the EU. Germany is not doing well either. Inflation has revisited Europe after so many decades.

I don´t know what kind of a union this is. Everyone is pointing their fingers at Greece. It seems, soon there will be other victims of the economic crisis. If nations don´t help each other in the hour of need what is the point of being in a union?

It´s hardly a surprise Turkey is looking for allies that are going to treat it seriously and on real partnership terms. Turkey has the right to feel deceived by the EU and USA, which seem to tempt, promise demand and don´t give much in return. Quite a logical step to take is to find somebody that´s more likely to keep a healthy balance.

Well, the history of my country has taught me that Russia is not really fond of partnership, but...things change and so do state policies.

I hope Turkish economy will benefit from visa-free flow of people

I don´t know what kind of a union this is. Everyone is pointing their fingers at Greece. It seems, soon there will be other victims of the economic crisis. If nations don´t help each other in the hour of need what is the point of being in a union?

 I have to stop you there. The other countries ARE stepping up to help Greece. They have promised billions of euro´s to help Greece. This ticks the people in these "save your behind" countries off. Why? Because the only reason why "we" (my tax-euro´s are also going to go to Greece) have to save Greece is because their old government didn´t follow the basic rules of being in the euro, and thus had a crazy economic system. If Greece would have made the real tax numbers, income and outcome numbers public, even a high school economics, level 1 student could have forseen a big economic crisis in the future. This crisis in Greece is not something that is only due to the world wide financial crisis. This is because of the state´s miss-management. Greece lied, spend WAY more then they were actually making, and now we have to help them. It feels like we´ve been cheated on

It´s like having a poor brother. The kind of brother who borrows money everywhere, but doesn´t have a good job to pay that money back. As the rich brother, you have to help him. You´re his brother after all. So, you pay his debt. But you make strict rules about how you give this money, because you don´t want your brother to mess up again. How do you make sure the poor brother doesn´t lie in the future again, just because he knows his rich brother will save him again?

Anyway, let´s talk about Russia, since I don´t see many arguments FOR Russia, except for "Russia is not the EU or US."

"Stability by all means" is questionable. There are some strange things happening in Russia, and the stability in government might just be a stability of fear. Critical journalists who die under strange circumstances or disappear in thin air... it´s not a good thing. And there are some problems with certain regions of Russia, including terrorism.

The oil thing is true though. I never uderstood why petrol and other oil products are so expensive in Turkey while they are so close to the source!

I any case it´s good to have good ties with your neighbors.

True, Turkey would be a more stable partner for Russia then any former Soviet Union. But let´s say, Turkey gets oil from Russia. What will Russia get from Turkey?

Just migration is actually a lot. I see a lot of Polish workers here, who have a job here, save money, and use it back home to build something for themselves. But yeah, politics, it´s like pre-school Everybody wants to have a buddy to play with and stick up for them on the playground. "If you are my friend, you have to help me when people bully me, but I will give you a lollipop!" Some things never change