Civiltà europea e pluralismo: fra passato e possibile futuro

The bubble of Europe’s Utopia has burst: as clearly stated by Nobel prize awarded writer Orhan Pamuk at the Sonning Prize Award cere- mony, Turkey, as other non-EU country members, no longer desires to en- ter the Union because of its economic, cultural and democratic identity- crisis. The paper aims to draw attention to Turkey’s Byzantine times, par- ticularly to its relations to the West after the fall of the Roman Empire. Nowadays mistrust; the inability to recognize common roots and to share cultural values; in conclusion the recurrence of racial intolerance seems to connote Europe of our days. What is occurring certainly undermines Europe’s identity and its democratic values. History teaches us that Europe’s future could begin primarily from the knowledge of its past.