We need Turkey in the European Union more than they need us

THIS WEEK’S Remembrance Day acknowledged the fallen of the First World War nearly a century ago but you only have to turn on the news to find out that war is still going on.

The Arab world had been promised self-rule following an Allied win over the Ottoman Empire, but Britain and France celebrated their victory by carving up the Middle East between them. Since then the region has been dominated by autocracy and violence and our relationship with the region has been dominated by our fear of Islam.

Our betrayal of the Middle East may yet come back to haunt us in terrible ways. At a seminar on Middle Eastern security hosted by the European Green Party in Istanbul this week, a leading authority on the Middle East, Frenchman Jean-Philippe Filiu sent cups rattling into saucers with the words, “My belief is that Islamic State will strike Europe and it will be multiple strikes.”