Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
Trust me, it's not about skin colour.
Israel (not European imo) shares the culture with Europe, Turkey does not have an European culture.
The border to Turkey marks the frontier between "Morgenland" (orient) and "Abendland" (occident).

This cultural division is the key. They are simply not (considered as) European, although they managed to keep a tiny bit of European ground on their withdrawal from the former Ottoman Empire's size.
They're sitting between Arabs/Persians and Europeans, don't belong to either group (but much more to Arabs/Persians than to Europeans).
OK, I think I can agree with that. Thank you for you explanations and patience.