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

V.3. Decrease in Interest to the European Union Accession

On the other hand, it is important to analyze why the public support to the EU accession in Turkey is dramatically decreasing with regard to the indicators on referendum tendencies of individuals. As it was mentioned earlier, the decline is 24,8 % in general, by comparing the data in 2004 and 2012. The reasons of this decrease can be varied in accordance with the thoughts of individuals. However, the people, who would like to vote against membership in a case of referendum, meet in several points of view by believing and presenting very similar arguments.

These arguments are beyond a simple action-reaction (or stimulus-response) attitude. In other words, their arguments are not formed due to the negative critiques or approaches that have been made by the member states, politicians and institutions of the EU since the application of Turkey in 1987.⁹⁶ If these nugatory attitudes had been an effective factor on people’s decision, the votes of against membership would have been more even in 2004. In this context, it is obvious that the attitudes of the EU are not very effective on Turkish people's decision, namely there are more influential factors.
The arguments of the people, who do not support the EU accession process, comprise deep and important issues. The main argument is perception of threats to national sovereignty by being a member of the EU. In other words, a country that joins to the EU, lose its national sovereignty. The others are taking shape around this central argument by perceiving interference the EU in internal affairs of Turkey.
In addition to the arguments of the people, who are against to the prospective EU membership; the importance and respectability of Turkey is increasing at international level. Therefore, Turkey started to give priority to its own clear benefits on the dialogues between the counties that can also be seen from the stated declarations of Turkish government. The advancement of Turkey is another fact that has influence on public opinion about the EU accession. On one side Turkey is rising with its power whilst on the other side EU is facing economic problems in Eurozone. These should be taken into consideration while analyzing public opinion in Turkey about the European Union.

In this context, the declining interest of Turkish people to the EU accession will be examined in two main sections. The first part will focus on the arguments of people who see the EU as a threat to national sovereignty. In the second section, Turkey will be analyzed as a rising power at international level by taking into account the relations between Turkey and the European Union.