ONLY THIRD OF TURKS SAY EU A MUST

CNN International
Oct 25 2006

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) — Less than a third of Turks think Turkey
must enter the European Union, a poll showed, the latest sign of
waning support for membership as Ankara faces increasing pressure
from Brussels.

The survey, carried out by pollsters A&G and published in newspaper
Milliyet, showed 32.2 percent thought Turkey "must certainly enter
the EU", a sharp decline on last year’s 57.4 percent and 67.5 percent
in 2004.

The poll, which shows a more dramatic decline in EU support than other
recent surveys, comes as Brussels urges Turkey to step up reforms and
make concessions over the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus if
it is to avoid a possible freeze in membership talks later this year.

The poll results could make it harder for Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan, who faces a general election in November 2007, to push
through unpopular measures demanded by the EU.

Of the 2,408 people polled, 25.6 percent said Turkey "should certainly
not enter the EU", more than twice the 10.3 percent who felt that
way last year, when Turkey began entry talks.

The survey was carried out in late September, and since then
nationalism and anti-EU feeling has been fuelled further by a law
passed in the French parliament making it a crime to deny — as Ankara
does — that Ottoman Turks carried out a genocide against Armenians
in 1915.

The poll also showed that 76.5 percent of Turks expect tougher
conditions to be imposed on them in the future and only 7.2 percent
trust the EU. Many Turks, including the government, complain that
Brussels is changing the rules as it goes along over Cyprus.

The EU is due to present a report on Turkey’s progress on Nov. 8,
which will likely criticize Ankara for a lack of reform on issues
such as minority and religious rights, and freedom of speech after
nationalist prosecutors have continued to take journalists and writers
to court over insulting "Turkishness".

Meanwhile conflict over Cyprus still threatens talks as Turkey
continues to refuse to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot
planes and vessels, without concessions from Brussels.

Ankara supports a breakaway Cyprus in the north, refusing to recognize
the EU-member Cypriot government in the south.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress