Turks warming to EU as concerns related to refugee flow skyrocket: Survey

A Syrian refugee child eats food which her mother collects from rubbishbins on Aug. 18, at Eminönü in Istanbul. AFP Photo / Bülent Kılıç

Turks have grown warmer to the European Union over the past year, while concerns about refugees and the government’s migration policy have sharply soared against the backdrop of rising tensions between Syrian refugees and locals, according to the latest Transatlantic Trends survey by U.S. think tank the German Marshall Fund.

The annual study shows that the EU’s approval rates have registered a slight but significant rise, after a chilly period that reached its pinnacle last year.

The proportion of the Turkish public with a positive opinion of the European bloc saw a 10 percent increase over the year, but at 45 percent remains lower than the proportion with an unfavorable opinion (51 percent). Meanwhile, the percentage of respondents who responded that accession would “benefit the country” (53 percent) topped the 50 percent threshold for the first time in many years.

Those who described their opinion about the EU as being “somewhat favorable” rose from 23 percent in 2013 to 36 percent this year, in addition to the 10 percent of respondents who said they have a “very favorable” opinion (a decline of 2 percent compared to 2013). However, the proportion of respondents with a “very unfavorable” opinion of the EU remains strong (30 percent) and is the highest among the sampled countries, including Greece, where the far-right has become a visceral political force, and Russia.

The new approval rates come after a turbulent year, when the EU has repeatedly condemned restrictive moves in terms of freedom of assembly and in the access to the Internet in Turkey. The Turkish government has attracted international uproar after blocking first Twitter and then YouTube, in the shadow of huge corruption allegations involving...

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