Turkey has been under the spotlight today in UK news media. Following yesterday's proposed deal between the EU and Turkey questions have been raised about Turkey's reliability and suitability as an EU partner - let alone EU member. The coverage has highlighted things we all know but many UK and European leaders wish to ignore: that Turkey has an appalling human record; that freedom of expression is under attack (e.g. Zaman); that the independence of courts is dubious. In addition I've heard doubts raised about the the stability of the Turkish economy. There has even been a Kurdish spokesperson interviewed on BBC radio. An academic from a UK university was asked if these things were improving to allow Turkey to be considered for EU membership - oh no, she replied, they are getting much worse. But Turkey is a buffer between Europe and Syria, and also provides NATO airbases for the USA to bomb Syria, so governments aren't going to say too much about these things.