'nationalism' - tagged features

9 months after general elections Belgians finally look set for a new Prime Minister. The political stalemate - which was the longest in Belgian history - raised the prospect of a split between the French-speaking Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemings. Last week Walloon and Flemish politicians finally broke the d eadlock after agreeing on the first steps to reform the country. The deal paves the way for a new government to be formed by Easter -- with Yves Leterme, leader of the Flemish Christian Democrats, taking over from interim prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. But is the Belgian political crisis now really resolved? My colleague Vanessa Moch from Radio Netherlands put that quesion to the former Belgian Prime Minister Mark Eyskens. 

Turkey has its first Nobel Prize winner, with Orhan Pamuk winning the prize for literature. But surprisingly his award has not been met with universal celebration in Turkey. The writer has become the target of the country's growing nationalist movement, which consider him a traitor. That's because Pamuk has frequently spoken out about the killing of Armenians in Turkey 90 years ago. To make matters worse for the author on the day of the announcing of his Nobel Prize, the French parliament passed a bill, which criminalizes the denial of the Armenian genocide, something Turkey strongly denies. The 2 events have placed Pamuk at the centre of the perfect nationalist storm, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul 

he United Nations and the European Union may well turn to Turkey to participate in the formation of a peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. However, despite Turkey's political importance the latest Eurobarometer survey indicates that almost half of all Europeans are against Turkey joining the European Union. There are however wide discrepancies between member states. More than 80 % of Austrians are hostile to Turkish EU membership, closely followed by over 60% of Germans and Luxembourgers, Cypriots and Greeks - while only 23 % in Spain are against the idea of Turks joining the Union. But how is the mood in Turkey and how do Turks feel about joining the European Union? It now seems support for EU membership is dwindling rapidly. For the first time, according to a recent Turkish poll, supporters of EU entry are now a minority. That's a change from last year when Turkey was given a firm date to start accession talks and more than seventy per cent of Turks were in favor of joining. So why do Turks no longer see the EU as an attractive eldorado?