Mr. Ruhi Acikgoz:

My colleague tried to answer some of the questions and left some for me to answer because I am a member of the governing party. In respect of Deputy Byrne's questions, Turkey is a secular rather than Islamic country. We have always been connected with western and European values and have always tried to go in that direction. We have been advising neighbouring countries that their future is in democracy and democratic values. When our prime minister visited Egypt, he also mentioned the issue of secularism because, as members know, the Muslim Brotherhood has religion at the forefront of its agenda. Our prime minister advised it to think about secularism and to move towards becoming a secular country. This was considered strange even by some religious people in Turkey.

With regard to the issue of Cyprus, I do not expect any positive developments in the near future. The current situation does not help Turkish-EU relations and Turkey's accession to the EU because Cyprus has been blocking the opening of some of the chapters for some time. We have had very good commercial relations with the EU and if one was to look at the volume of our foreign trade, 50% of it is with EU countries. The percentage has decreased from 60% to 50% but it is only the percentage that has decreased. Otherwise, the trade volume is at the same level. The decrease in the percentage is due to our increasing trade volume with countries outside the EU. In the near future, our trade volume with the EU will increase although the percentage will stay the same or decrease. If one was to look at our trade volume of $300 billion, $150 billion is with EU countries, including imports and exports in total. This will increase to $200 billion in the near future.

In respect of Deputy Kyne's comments, the public support for Turkey's EU membership has been decreasing very recently. It was around 60% but has been following a downward trend and is now around 40%. This has been fluctuating over time but if one was to look at the past three to five years, one would see that even though relations between Turkey and the EU have been increasing, there has been a decrease in support for Turkey's EU membership. There are a number of reasons for this. One of them is the loss of enthusiasm and belief that Turkey will one day become a full member of the EU. The second reason relates to announcements by famous parliamentarians to their constituencies in order to carry on their domestic issues.

There will not be a large amount of migration from Turkey to the EU. If we look at recent economic developments in Turkey, we can see that many Turkish people who migrated earlier to Europe are now returning to Turkey. Therefore, I do not expect to see migration from Turkey to the EU akin to that from Romania or Bulgaria to the EU. Turkey is a dynamic country and many people will come back. It will be the other way around. Instead of migration from Turkey to EU countries, we will see migration of Turkish people living in EU countries back to Turkey.