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İKTİSADİ KALKINMA VAKFI YAYINLARI
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for Turkey’s EU membership while the Central Anatolian
region has the lowest rate of belief with 22.8%. In all the
geographical regions, it can be observed that the belief for
EU membership is below 50%.
Taking into consideration the age range, it can be observed
that the population under age 45 is showing more support
and has a higher rate of belief for Turkey’s EU membership.
Nonetheless, when one takes into consideration all age
groups, less than 30% expect Turkey to become an EU
member within the next five years.
Among the main reasons behind the support for Turkey’s EU
membership are welfare and further economic development
as well as the free movement, right of settlement
and educational opportunities. These are followed by
strengthened democracy and human rights. For the 18-30
age groups, the expectation of increased opportunity for free
movement is high. As for the participants of 30 and above
age group, democracy and human rights ranks second in the
list of main reasons for supporting EU membership.
Taking into consideration the regional breakdown of the level
of support given to EU membership, it is indicated that the
first most important reason behind this support is related to
the prospects of more welfare and economic development.
In contrast, when analysing the reasons for opposing to EU
membership, EU’s double standard approach to Turkey
(26%) and the fear that Turkish culture and identity would
be weakened with EU membership (26%) are among the
reasons coming to the forefront.
1 out of 4 persons that participated to the public opinion
survey indicated that “free movement” would be the most
important contribution of EU membership to Turkey while 1
out of 5 persons pointed out to “new job opportunities” as
the main significant contribution. On the other hand, in the
third rank, 15%of participants declared that EUmembership
would present no benefit for Turkey.