1. Geography An extra assignment for our portfolio.

2. Members of our group. Our group exists out of four people; which are: Desiree Arnoldus Hilde Duzijn Kimberly de Jager Marit Meijburg

3. The assignment. The actual assignment was as following: 1)Subject: - Turkey - EU - Democracy 2)Purpose:To think of inquiry questions and to have interviews. 3)To do:Interview all the parents, and 3 children. 4)Make an English PowerPoint Presentation about it. 5)Add:Your own opinion about whether Turkey should enter the EU or not.

4. The questions. We came up with a couple of questions for our interviews. They were: Do you believe that we have a true, pure democracy in The Netherlands? We doe have a royal family. Do you believe the democracy in The Netherlands works? Why do you think that? Who do you think you are going to vote for this election? Why do you want to vote for this party? Did CDA honestly win the election? Why do you think that? What advantages does the average family get, because of the EU? It seems as if only the business has most advantages of the EU. Do you think the EU is useful? Do you agree that Turkey still hasn’t been accepted to the EU? Why do you agree/disagree? What should be the minimal condition that will guarantee Turkey’s entry to the EU? Do you think that Turkey will ever reach the level of other EU country’s? Do you believe that Turkey will ever be a true democracy? Do you want Turkey to enter the EU? Why?

5. Who were interviewed? As the assignment said, we all where to interview our own parents. But we also had to interview three other kids or students. So we interviewed: Shanice Arnoldus (13) - Desiree’s little sister Wietske Duzijn (13) - Hilde’s little sister Priscilla de Jager (16)- Kimberly’s big sister They are all students at Baken Park Lyceum.

6. Some results Here are some answers of the parents; Question: Do you believe that we have a true, pure democracy in The Netherlands? We do have a royal family. Desiree’s mother: No we are not a true, pure democracy, the queen has a small part in running the country. Desiree’s father: Yes, we do have a true democracy in The Netherlands. The Netherlands is a unitary state governed by central body. The political system is a parliamentary democracy as well as a constitutional monarchy. The queen has little political influence; her role is largely symbolic. Political power lies in the hands of a cabinet of ministers headed by a prime minister. Hilde’s mother: I think we have a true democracy. Hilde’s father: Yes, because the royal family has no real power. Kimberly’s mother: Maybe. Kimberly’s father: Yes, I believe in it, cause people can let other people know what they think, and what they want. People here have they’re own opinion. And that’s very important. But I have to remember you, we don’t have a pure democracy, we have a monarchy. Marit’s mother: Yes, I do believe we have a true democracy and our royals have a contribution in our diplomatic relations. Marit’s father: Yes, we do have a true democracy. We are the third most democratic state after Iceland and Norway in the world. The royal family is just here for entertainment.

7. Now these are the results from the 3 teens that we interviewed, still from the same question; Do you believe we have a true, pure democracy in The Netherlands? We do have a royal family. Hilde’s sister Wietske said: Yes, I do. Because the queen and her family haven't got real power. Kimberly’s sister Priscilla said: No we don’t have a pure democracy, we have a monarchy. Desiree’s sister Shanice said: I don’t really know but I think so. There are a lot of different party’s that you can vote for. So I guess it’s fine.

8. The Comparison When you compare these answers you can see that not many people actually know the truth. Overall the men do know a bit more. But still don’t always have the best answers. Kimberly’s father for example starts off with a perfect answer, but then starts thinking that this country is a monarchy. Some people actually just have no clue. And the three kids that we interviewed didn’t know that much about it either. Accept for Wietske, she actually gave a very good answer. We think that by throwing them off by adding the fact that we have a royal family, people got confused. Because when you think about it, it is quit clear that we do have a democracy. And what Marit’s father added; about how we are the 3 best democratic country is true, this is what the ‘The Economist’ (a British publication) reported.

9. Some results Another question that we asked was: Who do you think you are going to vote for this election? And why is that? Desiree’s mother: VVD, because there were issues that the VVD wanted to finish, such as: lowering the taxes and bettering the social security. Desiree’s father: CDA, I already wanted to vote for CDA and after filling in the questions on ‘Stemwijzer’ I was convinced that I had made the right decision. Hilde’s mother: PvdA, they care about health care, education and emigrants. Hilde’s father: PvdA, I don’t want to have a right wing government again. Kimberly’s mother: GroenLinks, Femke Halsema because she is the only woman. Kimberly’s father: I still don’t know for sure. Marit’s mother: CDA, they did a good job in the past couple of years under difficult circumstances. Marit’s father: VVD, they represent my interest best and I share their views on the economy.

10. So you can see that the motivations to vote For a party can be for al sorts of different reasons. For example specifically not wanting to have a right wing government. Of course the overall reason to vote for a party will always be what that party stands for. We did ask the children which party they would vote for if they could. Hilde’s sister Wietske: I think PvdA or SP, I think my ideas about the environment, nature, taxes and the economy are similar. Desiree’s sister Shanice: GroenLinks, because I think that the environment is very important. If we don’t change our ways with the environment we will soon all die. Then there is no use anymore for nagging about the other subjects.

11. Some results The last question that we will handle is: Do you want Turkey to enter the EU? Why? Desiree’s mother: No, because they are situated more close to the Eastern-European countries. Desiree’s father: No, ‘Sharia’ deals with many aspects of day-to-day-life, including politics, economics, banking, business law, sexuality and social issues. These aspects doesn’t relate to pure democracy which we highly value in the EU. Hilde’s mother: Yes, Well, I think it’s good because of the religion. We can learn from them. Hilde’s father: Yes, It will stimulate the country to modernize; having a Muslim country in the EU will decrease the segregation between the Muslim and non-Muslim parts of the world. Kimberly’s mother: No, It is a other country, the law is not very good, and it’s also an Arabic country Turkey is joining Arabic country’s and they can’t join Arabic country’s and the EU on the same time. Kimberly’s father: Maybe someday, but now? No. They need to have a good condition for everybody in that country. They economy, there isn’t very good, and it will be a bad thing for the EU. If Turkey joined in one of these days. I don’t think it will be good for any Country in the EU, but if Turkey reach good conditions, and a good Economy, they can get in the EU Marit’s mother: No, The cultural differences are too big and because of it’s size it will have a very big impact and say in the community compared to the other smaller countries. And we should not want that. Marit’s father: No, It is not a European Country, not part of the European culture. I believe that the EU should be more than an economic community. Economically it might be convenient to accept Turkey as a member, but this will weaken the EU’s identity as a group of modern, secular, democratic states.

12. Our own opinions. We also had to give our opinions about whether we wanted Turkey to join the EU. These are our opinions: Desiree: I’m not sure whether accepting Turkey into the EU, would be a very wise decision. On one side you would think that after so many years of waiting, they deserve it anyway. But I think that there is also a very good reason not to allow Turkey to enter the EU. Because they still have a lot off old ideas about every-day stuff. Turkey would have to become a real democratic country. That way Turkey being a part of the EU will not harm our image.

13. Hilde’s opinion about whether Turkey should enter the EU: I think Turkey has to enter the EU, but not right now. Because of internal issues about human rights and democracy. But Turkey already has abolished capital punishment and in 2002 men and women became equal for the law. So, I think that as soon as Turkey has solved the internal issues about human rights and democracy, it should enter to the EU.

14. Kimberly’s opinion about Turkey entering the EU. I think they're not ready for comming to the EU. I mean; they don't have good laws and human rights. The economy of Turkye isn't good either. So if they will join the EU now, it would be a bad thing for the EU country's.

15. Last, but not least Marit’s opinion about Turkey. I don’t really think that Turkey should be a part of the EU because: It is not a European country, it is not a part of the European culture. It’s an entirely different community and I don’t really believe they would fit in. The people have different goals and different ways to reach their goals. They don’t really share a history together either. They are not a part of Europe, and I don’t believe they ever will be!

16. The End