Would you consider these countries part of the European family? (culture, influence)

[HonestMind]

Originally Posted by bailarina

Uk is one of the countries with more influence in the european history and culture, of course is closer to anglosphere, they are its former colonies oo If this country is not consider part of Europe , i don´t know what nation could be consider european. Of course it has its own flavor like any other country.

No, UK is completly different to rest of european culture, and also their mentality. UK and perhaps Ireland definitely have a very isolated culture not comparable to anywhere in continental eutope or scandinavia.

I dont consider brits to be proper europeans, when I see them in group of tourists they strike me as foreign as Americans or Canadians.

The british are very foreign people to me, even albanians and bosnians are more proper europeans.

[erasure]

Originally Posted by MalaMan

Turkey is the remaining of the old Ottoman Empire. The old Ottoman Empire encompassed a large portion of Europe. So, I think Turkey is Europe...

Except for that Turks originally came from Asia and conquered the lands ( Byzantium) that were European lands.

So, I think that Constantinople (Istanbul) is an European city, and Turkey is part of Europe.

When it was CONSTANTINOPLE - yes, it was a European city, but when it became ISTANBUL, it was not European city any longer, even if geographically it was still in Europe.

[erasure]

PS. Russian culture is firmly planted in European family; to say that it's not, means to not to know much about it. However as far as European Union goes, I don't see any sense or purpose of Russian integration into European Union. Let's put it this way - Russia had a historical mission to spread and support European culture, expanding its territory to the East, influencing the indigenous people and muslim population. That's why Russian is a different brand of European culture - it's called "Eastern European" for a reason, and to integrate it with Western European doesn't make much sense, because then the historical and cultural purpose of Russia is simply lost.

PS. PS. To hear that Gr. Britain was not part of European family somehow, was sure news to me.
I mean from the point of view of politics or economy I can see why they'd like to stay away from the E.U., but culturally?..
If they don't belong to European family, then what are they - Chinese?

[erasure]

Originally Posted by HonestMind

No, UK is completly different to rest of european culture, and also their mentality. UK and perhaps Ireland definitely have a very isolated culture not comparable to anywhere in continental eutope or scandinavia.

I dont consider brits to be proper europeans,

Perhaps they are aliens?

[minibrings]

all except for a small portion of Turkey

[BigSwede]

Originally Posted by LindavG

What do you mean? Switzerland is in there, joined in 1963.

P.S. 100 posts!!

I checked the list three times and still managed to miss it.

[kerouac2]

You probably have the same problem that I do on my office computer -- my screen doesn't resize for some reason and Switzerland is cut off the right side of the screen unless you think to scroll horizontally.

There are a few missing countries, though:

"the Council of Europe now includes all European states except Belarus, Kazakhstan, Vatican City and the states with limited recognition."

[LindavG]

Originally Posted by HonestMind

No, UK is completly different to rest of european culture, and also their mentality. UK and perhaps Ireland definitely have a very isolated culture not comparable to anywhere in continental eutope or scandinavia.

I dont consider brits to be proper europeans, when I see them in group of tourists they strike me as foreign as Americans or Canadians.

The british are very foreign people to me, even albanians and bosnians are more proper europeans.

Don't be ridiculous. All European countries are different, there is no such thing as one unified European culture. Greece and Sweden sure are different but they are still both European. Same for Germany and Portugal, Spain and Poland, Switzerland and Malta, Iceland and Italy, etc. The UK and Ireland are thoroughly European and you'd have to be a fool to deny that. You just hate Ango-Saxons as is obvious from your other posts.

Also, you act like the entire Anglo-Saxon sphere is all the same. Do you honestly think that a country like Ireland has more in common with the US than with the EU?

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by ben86

We do refer to Europeans as 'they' but most of us do realise that we'd be stupid to try to insulate ourselves and that there are a lot of good things to be had on the continent, but a thousand years of history as an independent country is not to be given away without a damn good reason, and there just isn't one good enough. Visa-free travel and a free market, while keeping control of our own laws and currency suits us fine.

-----

I think that UK always knew they were European, but not "Continental". I think that the "Europe thing" is rather new (I'm not sure), old English used to say "the Continent" and Europeans were "Continentals".

Similar thing to the sentiment of people inhabiting in Spanis islands, they used to call Spanish "peninsular", and some still do.

[LindavG]

Originally Posted by erasure

When it was CONSTANTINOPLE - yes, it was a European city, but when it became ISTANBUL, it was not European city any longer, even if geographically it was still in Europe.

Why not?