Economy: New Age 'Gastarbeiter'; Should Europe fear unchecked immigration from Turkey? No. In fact, it ought to pray for it--along with the rest of the EU.(Cover Story)

Byline: Rana Foroohar and Owen Matthews

Turkey may be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. It may have cleaned up its banking system, simplified its tax code and become the darling of emerging-market investors everywhere. Yet for Europeans, the country is still epitomized by its highest-profile export to the EU--the Gastarbeiter .

That's German for "guest worker," specifically those who are Turkish. During the 1960s and '70s, in the heyday of Europe's economic boom, these poor, uneducated Anatolian peasants flooded into Germany, France and Austria, sweeping floors, washing dishes in restaurants and clustering in ethnic communities isolated from the social mainstream. The influx peaked decades ago and has since dwindled to a trickle. Yet even today they remain the symbol of Europeans' hesitance to accept Turkey into their Union.

This nebulous fear of low-skilled hordes sapping welfare systems and taking work away from locals is deep-seated and, obviously, not confined to Turks. Yet it has a special resonance for them, since, if admitted, Turkey would be the most populous member of the European Union. Only last week French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin warned that a "river of Islam" threatens to overwhelm traditional European culture. But are such worries justified? Would a new generation of Turks pour into Europe postaccession, and would those who did come resemble the undesirables of the past?

The answer, according to most experts, is no. Though the specter of the old gastarbeiters may still cloud Europe's collective psyche, says one senior European diplomat, "they show a face that is no longer modern Turkey." Turkish education and job skills, while not on par with the EU, are catching up fast. Enrollments in primary school are exploding--1.3 million children added over the past five years, more than half of them girls. University enrollments were up 28 percent last year alone. More than 115,000 of Turkey's 16 million students go to private English-language schools, such as Istanbul's famed Robert College, and 850,000 more (including children of expats) are studying abroad.

Aside from all this, there ...