Turkey in Europe

7th February 2010 – 21.30 BBC Radio 3

Four hundred years ago, much of Central Europe was under Turkish rule and the traces of their presence remain to this day. We bathe, drink coffee and eat croissants courtesy of the Ottoman Turks. Even the music of Mozart is full of Turkish sounds. Yet many nations still resist Turkey joining the EU. In this week’s Sunday Feature, film-maker and broadcaster Dennis Marks asks whether they are in denial about the past influence of the Ottoman Empire? He visits today’s Turkish communities in Vienna and the Moslem districts of Sarajevo and poses that question to contemporary Austrians, Bosnians and Turks - artists, scholars, politicians and historians - to discover what they share and what they fear.

Written and presented by Dennis Marks

Brook Lapping Productions for BBC Radio 3