One World? Not Even Close.

As Europe opens talks regarding Turkey’s possible admission to the European Union, it is helpful to remind ourselves of the stark differences between Enlightenment-inspired European culture and Islam-based Turkish culture. One particularly illustrative point is the matter of "honor killings," a habit brought to Europe by many of the Middle Eastern immigrants who the Europeans so foolishly let settle in their countries. Honor killings, simply put, are the murders of individuals who have somehow run afoul of Islamic law or morality, usually by a family member who believes that the individual’s actions have besmirched the family’s proper reputation. Europeans have reacted with horror as a number of Muslim immigrant women have been so murdered for "acting Western" in European cities by their own relatives; but the practice has fairly significant support in many areas of the Islamic world, particularly Turkey.

A survey by a university in Turkey has shown almost 40% support for the practice of "honour killing".

The results come days after a court in Istanbul gave a life sentence for the murder of a girl by her brothers for giving birth to a child out of wedlock.

Turkish law, which used to be lenient on "honour crimes", was heavily revised as part of the country's preparation for EU accession proceedings.

Note that Turkey only began to crackdown on the practice of honor killings in order to dull resistance to its bid for entrance into the European Union, not because Turkish leaders (religious or secular) decided that the practice was morally revolting.

The survey was conducted in the conservative south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.

It questioned 430 people, most of them men. When asked the appropriate punishment for a woman who has committed adultery, 37% replied she should be killed.

Twenty-five percent said that she deserved divorce, and 21% that her nose or ears should be cut off.

So, let’s see … 37 percent think the woman should be killed and 21 percent think she should be disfigured, which amounts to a wonderful 58 percent of respondents believing that a woman should be killed or disfigured for adultery. Interestingly, there was no word on what penalties the respondents thought should accrue against a man who committed adultery.

Nevertheless, the always pro-Muslim BBC hastily assures its readers that Turkey has begun to strongly deal with the problem.

And there is evidence the authorities here are committed to taking the reforms further.

A commission has just been established in parliament to research the whole issue for the first time. Its 12 members are expected to report back in December.

Ah, yes. A commission. That’s the European way of dealing with any problem. Appoint a commission that will return a report on the matter some time in the indefinite future. This is better known as doing something that doesn’t really deal with the problem, but let’s you say you’re doing something about it.