A RECENT poll in a Turkish newspaper included an eye-catching statistic. A substantial majority of the population — 63% — thought it perfectly acceptable for a man to have more than one wife.

It may not seem as surprising as some of the country’s other distinguishing features: in parts of mainly Muslim Turkey, some people still live in cone-shaped mud huts whose design dates from the dawn of history.

Yet Turkey’s penchant for polygamy may well become more of an issue in the debate about where to place the eastern boundary of the western world — and whether to let Turkey become a member of the European Union.

Already the subject of adultery has caused a crisis in its dealings with the EU. It took Turkey’s promise not to make adultery a criminal offence for the European commission to recommend in a report due this week that EU leaders should agree to entry talks.

The process could take two decades. It is provoking heated debate among Europeans fearful of letting a Muslim country into their midst.

Istanbul is often described as a bridge between Asia and Europe, but some argue that Turkey may prove a bridge too far for the EU — too big, poor and Islamic to join without undermining the EU’s identity and objectives.

For the moment it seems some European politicians such as Tony Blair — a staunch supporter of Turkey — may be ahead of public opinion. A French poll showed a majority against Turkish membership for fear of mass immigration from a country whose population of 70m is growing faster than any in Europe. President Jacques Chirac wants the issue put to a referendum.

Such doubts may derail Turkey’s quest to join the EU, however persuasive the arguments of Eser Karakas, provost of Bahcesehir University. From his desk overlooking the Bosporus strait between Europe and Asia, the bearded, barrel-chested professor said last week that he wanted to reassure “the British man enjoying his pint of beer in the pub” that he had nothing to fear from the Turks.

On the contrary. “The Turkish labour force will end up financing the retirement of Europe’s ageing population,” he predicted. “And “If Europe says no to Turkey, the problem will be how to convince people that Europe is not just a club for Christians.”

For a while it seemed as if Turkey might sabotage its own application. When Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the moderate prime minister, tried to make adultery a crime, it revived old concerns about a threat to the strongly secular democracy established by Mustafa Kemal, or “Ataturk”, the revered founder of modern Turkey.

The uproar forced Erdogan to back down but not before giving ammunition to Turkey’s opponents, among them Frits Bolkestein, an outgoing European commissioner, who warned that the EU was in danger of “Islamisation” if the Turks came in. “The liberation of Vienna in 1683 would have been in vain,” he added, referring to the defeat of troops of the Turkish Ottoman empire at the gates of the Austrian city.

The Turks, whose ethnic forefathers include Attila the Hun — he features in schoolbooks as the first all-Turkish hero — have long been accustomed to hostility from abroad.

Over the past decade, however, the country has cleaned up its act, taking big steps towards becoming a liberal and prosperous democracy. The adultery quarrel was reflective more of contradictions in Turkish society than of any threat to European ideals.

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