Oger: Turkey Is Not Treated Fairly By E.U.

BERLIN - Executive Board President of Oger Tours, which is one of the leading travel agencies of Germany said on Saturday regarding the EU membership of Turkey, that EU didn't treat Turkey fairly.
Oger told German tv channel ''Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR)'' that ''Turkey is a European country, and approximately 80 percent of Turkish people want to join the EU.''
Noting that Turkey received double standard from EU, Oger said that ''there are claims of torture. I ask to you, are not there such claims in new countries which want to join the EU? For instance in Romania. In fact the economy of that country was in total collapse a short time ago.''
Oger said that the views of certain German Christian Democrat Unity Party (CDU) deputies who said that Turkey should not join the EU as it is a Muslim country are totally nonsense, adding that ''Muslims live even in the heart of Europe. Turkey also shares the values of Europe. You can't treat one country due to its religion and culture. One Portuguese and one Finnish do not have the same culture, but both of them live in EU-member countries.''
Oger said that ethnic discrimination is very dangerous, recalling that that the Second World War erupted due to discriminatory views.
''There are certain hesitations in EU about the economic problems of Turkey which has a population of 62 million. There is also a concern of migration from Turkey. In fact Turks love their country, when the economy recovers in Turkey, there will be even Turks who will return to Turkey from Germany. The same concern was voiced when Greece joined the EU. What happened, is Germany full of Greeks today?'' he said.
Stating that Turkey had a wrong image in Germany, Oger said, ''95 percent of the people who came to Germany to have job came from the rural parts of the country and they even did not know reading and writing. But this is not true for today's Turkish people.''
Stressing that EU could not be a big power without Turkey, Oger said, ''United States has comprehended well Turkey's strategical importance. Europe will protect its values against other radical countries, if Turkey joins the EU.''
''European countries will stay alone with all problems in Caucasia and Middle East, if Turkey is left outside the EU,'' he noted.