BY HURSIT GUNES
MILLIYET- Turkey’s European Union membership is becoming clearer. While many EU members favor our membership, others see Turkey as a very different country. This didn’t come out before, because Turkey has never been so close to EU membership. Resistance emerges as the time for decision approaches.
One of the arguments against Turkey’s membership is its huge population. According to this claim, Turkey’s population will reach 90 million during its accession process. Europe is worrying about this. Actually, even if our rate of growth stays the same, our population in 2014 will be about 81 million, though it will shrink in 30 years. Many countries in Europe have shrinking populations. Turkey’s response to this is that since EU’s population is both shrinking and aging, it needs a young population and workers. Therefore Turkey must be accepted for the sake of Europe’s economic growth. However, many Europeans are suffering from unemployment and so are more worried about this.
Research show that poverty increases as the population grows and that population can be controlled with education. Turkey can reduce its population, and this wouldn’t have an adverse effect. Turkey’s reliance on its young population in its EU membership bid represents a failure. A real advantage would be low population growth accompanied by a better-educated population. Turkey shouldn’t rely on its youth, but on its educated populace.