Turkey’s Muddled Opposition

We have seen over recent months that support for Turkey’s EU accession has declined amongst Turks, partly due to the realisation that much of the EU does not want them. However the anti EU faction is not offering any objective alternative.

If a public opinion poll were conducted today, the public wouldn’t know what the opposition is objecting to because it does not concretize its rejections or reflect them on the people.

This is in stark contrast to the pro EU camp.

If you ask the public, “What is the government’s objective in the EU?” everyone can easily utter a few words. The people can explain the reasons why the government turned down privileged partnership and can also talk about full membership.

The fact that the reasons they give are mostly wrong or irrelevant is neither here nor there. The pro side is winning the propaganda battle. Meanwhile the Eurosceptics have an image problem.

All anti-democrats, all ex-junta members, all psychological war experts etc. are on the anti-EU front.

Why does this sound so familiar? You struggle to argue on the basis of facts and the opposition simply say: Le Pen is anti EU. They also control the terms of the debate.

Those who react fiercely against the government’s EU policies do not have any political, social or economic alternative to put forth.

What they mean by alternative is another EU like group. Seeing as there is no such thing, this is a successful line of argument. The real alternative is of course an independent nation that trades freely with its neighbours, but federalist refuse to accept that as an answer. It took decades for the Eurosceptics in the UK to create a strong anti EU narrative. I wonder how long it will take the Turks?