The humanitarian crisis in Turkey shines a light on Europe’s failures | Elif Shafak

Turkey was once on course to join the EU. The desperate refugees trapped on its border reflect a broken relationship

To understand Europe, we need to look more carefully at its borders. Too often, the debates on the future of Europe focus on a few leading nations and overlook the periphery. Yet the fate of the continent is deeply and inevitably connected with what's happening along its fringes. And there is no bordering country that has as complex and confusing a relationship with Europe as Turkey - it was, after all, the Ottoman empire that was first referred to as "the sick man of Europe".

Related: Migration: EU praises Greece as 'shield' after Turkey opens border