ANKARA - The majority of Turks are in favor of their country's bid to join the European Union, but the traditionally strong support for membership has fallen off, according to a public opinion poll published here Thursday.
The survey, conducted last week among 3,302 people by the Pollmark research company, found that 63.5 percent of the population backed EU membership, a decline of about 10 percentage points from a similar survey carried out by Pollmark last June, the Milliyet newspaper reported.
The Turks' support for EU membership has been measured between 70 and 80 percent in recent years.
The fall off in support is a result of rising nationalist sentiments, fuelled by debates over Kurdish rights, the Cyprus conflict and international pressure on Ankara to recognize as genocide the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, the coordinator of the Pollmark survey, Ihsan Dagi, said.
Turkey is set to begin membership talks on October 3.
04/07/2005 07:40 GMT