The other side of the coin: the growing opposition in turkey against to the european union accession

IV. 2. Geographical Features of Turkey
As it was mentioned above, another important indicator is the geographical features of a country. Even though there were some exceptions, all the ruling countries in the history were established in large areas. However, besides the size of a country, it is also very important if the land has fertile soils, natural wealth and manufacturer society. Öymen underlines that “it is not a coincidence that many early civilizations were established on the land of today`s Turkey”.⁴⁶
The area of Turkey is 783,562 km2 which 8.333 km2 are the coastal strip. By considering many countries in Europe do not have that long coastal strip, some of them have not even the high level of strategic importance as Turkey has. The area of Turkey should not be underestimated. In the case of full membership of Turkey to the EU, it will be the biggest country. Actually the area of Turkey is bigger than the total areas of Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania.⁴⁷
Some people define the Republic of Turkey as a bridge country to present the linkage between the continent of Europe and Asia. However, according to the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu; beyond a simple "bridge country" description, Turkey has a unique geopolitical strategic importance which gives Turkey a central country status. “Among all these classifications, Turkey holds a special position. Turkey’s geography gives it a specific central country status, which differs from other central countries. For example, Germany is a central country in Central Europe, which is far from Asia and Africa. Russia is another central country in the lands of Europe and Asia, which is far from Africa. Iran is a central country in Asia, which is far from Europe and Africa. Taking a broader, global view, Turkey holds an optimal place in the sense that it is both an Asian and European country and is also close to Africa through the Eastern Mediterranean. A central country with such an optimal geographic location cannot define itself in a defensive manner. It should be seen neither as a bridge country which only connects two points, nor a frontier country, nor indeed as an ordinary country, which sits at the edge of the Muslim world or the West.”⁴⁸
On the other hand, all the area in Turkey is favourable to life by having advantage in agriculture, livestock, fishery and natural wealth. It is not an extreme discourse to say that Turkey is able to be thrown upon its own resources. In fact, self-sufficiency can be provided in case of good management, especially in agriculture, livestock and fishery. For instance, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey, M. Mehdi Eker, stated that the consumption needs in agriculture of Turkey are supplied by its food industry production.⁴⁹ Nevertheless, there is not a determined limit for self-sufficiency to describe what enough is or not, even for a household.
In terms of the agriculture and fishery, the results of comparison between Turkey and the EU presents how powerful Turkey is in production. There is no doubt that Turkey is one of the biggest agriculture producers in Europe by having 38.231 thousand hectares as the total utilized agricultural land.⁵⁰ Compare to biggest agriculture producers in the EU by giving example on France (27.837,3 thousand hectares) and Spain (23.752,7 thousand hectares),⁵¹ insomuch that Turkey is the biggest agriculture producer. With regard to this fact, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey, M. Mehdi Eker, stated that the consumption needs in agriculture of Turkey are supplied by its food industry production.⁵²

In accordance with 2011 fishery statistics, on the other hand, “the total production of fishery products in the EU was an estimated 6.1 million tonnes”.⁵³ When the EU member countries are separately examined, the three largest fishery producer countries came into prominence: Spain (1.134.253 million tonnes), United Kingdom (798.491 tonnes) and Denmark (770.763 tonnes). France follows these countries with 650.419 tonnes.⁵⁴ In the same year, the total production of fishery products in Turkey was 703.545 tonnes.⁵⁵