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| European Public Support for Turkey Increases Monday , 31 July 2006 Support for Turkey's EU membership among the European public has surprisingly increased, whereas an opposite trend has been observed within Turkey. Nearly 38 percent of Europeans now support Turkey's aspirations to join the wealthy bloc, according to a new Eurobarometer poll. The corresponding figure for the autumn of 2005 was just 31 percent. The rate of people who opposes Turkey's EU membership decreased to 48 percent from 55 percent, the Eurobarometer poll shows. Turkey commenced its de facto accession talks with the European Union in mid-June, following an 8-month screening process. Turkey's EU accession process is expected to be long and arduous and susceptible to crises, especially on Cyprus. Optimistic analysts predict that Turkey, with its large population, could enter the wealthy bloc by 2014 at the earliest. Despite the improvement in European public support, Turkey is still the most unwanted candidate among the EU hopefuls. The survey found that Austrians were the most hostile to Turkey joining, with 81 percent of respondents against the idea, followed by Germans and Luxembourgers at 69 percent, Cypriots at 68 percent and Greeks at 67 percent. The Spanish were the least opposed to the prospect of Turkey becoming an EU member, with only 23 percent of respondents against the idea. Human rights and respect for minority rights are judged by the European public to be the toughest obstacles facing Turkey's EU membership. The Eurobarometer poll, which was carried out in April from among a total of 1000 people in Turkey, had found that only 43 percent of Turks had a positive image of the Union. CHA with courtesy of Zaman 31 July 2006 Turkey-EU |