Turkey's 180

[Systemz]

Sorry, bud - I wasn't necessarily disagreeing with you on the entirety of your statement, but I fail to see how a religious influx of Islam into London can "pose a threat to some traditional styles of living that gives Europe it's strength". It's not as if having a few less Anglican churches is going to debase the already non-competitive atmosphere of the UK. Most of the jobs middle eastern immigrants are holding down are ones the Euros won't touch. And accepting that culture and race do exist does not necessarily imply for either of us that we are necessarily ethnocentric - but modernity forces us to create these divisions that do not necessarily reflect the situation as it truly stands. Particularly in relation to Nationalism of the type we're talking about - the fact that the Turks are "different" from the rest of Europe implies that they are either "better" or "worse" than Europe. That's ethnocentrism defined. And from that ethnocentrism comes generalization, and marginalization. By simply stating that Turkey is like the wild west you are saying that it is "worse" than modern European states, who are supposed to have graduated beyond that sort of behavior, which I'm sure as you have seen over the past few months of problems in the former Yugoslavia (Or, Serbia and Montenegro, if you're a nitpicker). Ethnicity is not natural, nor is it fundamental to our understanding of things - I'll agree to that - but as long as the people of Europe view the rest of the world as somehow separate from themselves they are in fact feeding the ethnocentrism that has cast a shadow over them since Westphalia.
And when I say "Xenophobia isn't limited to race" I think I'm pretty much accepting that a view froma solely racial context is insufficient. Before you start making backhanded remarks I'd suggest you either read more closely or articulate yourself more fully.