The Middle East

The political ban on one of Turkey's most popular politician has called into question the country's European Union bid as it tries to establish its democratic credentials, and raised questions about the outcome of upcoming polls.

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The Turkish government is downcast by the prospect of missing a self-imposed year-end date for the start of European Union membership talks after it passed a raft of ambitious EU-demanded reforms aimed at eventual membership in the bloc. Notwithstanding Ankara's grumbling over what it sees as a double standard for NATO's only Muslim member, the EU says reforms, although encouraging, do not by themselves warrant the start of talks at a summit in Copenhagen in December.

While Turkey's parliament recently passed a raft of ambitious reforms with disarming determination aimed at European Union membership, the run-up to the November 3rd elections is advancing along some well-tread lines, with the country's secular establishment mindful of divisions among the left and a rising conservative party with suspected Islamist links.

Kemal Dervis, Turkey's most sought-after political figure, announced last week that he was joining the People's Republican Party (CHP) after long speculation as to where he might eventually land to launch his previously forsworn political career.

The World Bank on August 16th released $450m in structural loans to Turkey as the country tries to stick to a huge reform package designed to wrest it from its worst economic crisis since 1945 ahead of early elections scheduled for November.