Turkeys prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, said that the EU now has no reason to exclude Turkey from membership. Ecevit said the civil rights reforms Turkeys parliament recently enacted meet European Union requirements. (See an earlier report in StrategyPage on those reform measures, which included abolition of the death penalty during peace time.) If Turkey were admitted to the EU, it would have the second largest population of any EU member (around 70 million). Germany is the most populous, with over 80 million people. Turkey would add 70 million Muslims, however, which gives many Europeans second thoughts about admitting Turkey. But should that matter? After all, the EU isnt the Holy Roman Empire (Christendom) reborn as a Brussels-run bureaucracy --or is it? (Austin Bay)