Half of Turkey Would Vote Yes to Joining EU

A new survey by the Angus Reid Monitor has found that some 49.7% of Turkey residents would vote in favour of joining the EU, while just 34.9% would vote no in a referendum on the issue.

However, such a referendum is still a very long way off. Turkey has wanted to join the European Union for some 40 years now, but has only been making real progress since 2005.

In October 2006, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn declared: "Our relationship with this country is schizophrenic. (...) There is in Turkey a feeling of deception, because it is thought that '˜Europeans don't want us in the Union'. As for the Union, it is disappointed by the sluggish pace of reforms, which are not sufficiently credible, leading to suspicion in public opinion. It is a real vicious circle that I want to break and this will be difficult to do if accession negotiations are suspended."

For Turkey to have any real chance of securing full accession to the EU, it needs to successfully normalise relations with all its neighbours. The recent and much revered pact with Armenia has all but fallen apart, and the Cyprus issue is still deadlocked.

None the less, progress intensified last year, when Turkey went on a spree of relationship repairing, which is still ongoing despite the current difficulties.

Turkey is growing into a force to be reckoned with in the international economic community, without full membership to the EU. However, those doing business in the country would still like to see full accession. Julian Walker director of UK based Turkish property agent said:

"Yes, Turkey has and will see some massive economic growth in the coming years. The tourism especially is expanding at a phenomenal rate only slowed by the financial downturn. None the less, the loss of visa restrictions from the entire EU could boost this growth massively. Turkey is gearing up to receive 30million tourists in 2010, with EU accession that figure could well be 35million."

Spot Blue is currently marketing Turkey property for sale priced from £50k.

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