"The reform demands of the great powers never end." So wrote Abulhamid Ⅱ, a sultan who ruled the Ottoman empire in its dying days. This belief, shared by millions of citizens of modern Turkey, will have been strengthened by the European Commission's latest progress report on Turkey's membership, unveiled in Brussels on November 8th. The document may not lead instantly to a "train wreck", the term coined by the European Union's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, for a decision to suspend EU membership talks with Turkey. But it leaves the threat on the table unless Turkey meets EU demands to open its ports and airports to Greek-Cypriot ships and aircraft by mid-December, when European leaders hold a summit in Brussels.
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