ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to study public perceptions of and identification with Europe and the EU, and analyses the public opinion towards Turkish accession. It discusses that the Turkish public attitudes towards and perceptions of the EU and of Turkey's accession. The chapter also discusses the European nationalism' is both partly a consequence of Turkey's EU accession bid and, potentially, has important consequences for its final outcome. The European public can be divided into two groups. The first of these is the Europeans', a relatively prosperous and well-educated group who tend to support European integration and perceive the EU as resembling a Habermasian rights-based, post-national union based largely on universal values' rather than a thicker' cultural identity. The second group, who tend to be blue-collar' workers and relatively right-wing, are comparatively Euro sceptic in terms of EU integration. This group, then, which is relatively xenophobic and anti-immigration, tends to support an EU which is based on European cultural values.