Turkey’s Future: Middle East or Europe?

Does Turkey’s future belong in Europe or the Middle East? The Turkish public does not have a consensus answer. A quarter says that in the future Turkey should look to the Middle East while 17% say it should look to Europe.Nearly four-in-ten (37%) volunteer that both are equally important, while 6% say that neither are important and 15% do not offer an opinion. Despite the split, Turks remain in favor of joining the European Union by a 52%-to-42% margin. While support for joining the EU is little changed from a year ago, it is down 16 percentage points since 2005. Turks younger than age 30 (61%) are more likely than Turks ages 50 and older (43%) to favor joining the EU. On balance, publics in most of the EU member nations surveyed also support Turkish membership in the organization. Read More