“You lost out to London for the 2012 Olympic Games, although your application was better! I’ve heard that your politicians and all French people were dumbfounded by this incomprehensible decision”, exclaims Karim, the owner of a small hotel in the centre of Istanbul. “Well, we feel the same when it comes to European procrastination. We feel humiliated in the light of this recurring hesitation by Europeans whether to accept us or not into Europe. We have been discredited", he continues. “All the more so, since the Turkish economy is performing much better than Bulgaria’s or Romania’s. The average salary is 2 or 3 times higher here. Thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians come to work in Istanbul.”

This 45-year-old Turk of Kurdish descent says that today he is fed up of hearing about this opportunity of membership, which for him has more to do with recognition rather than a real need. “For my generation it is no longer an issue and we no longer think about it either. When Turkey has its MEPs in the European Parliament, we will be dead and gone!”

Economic issues

Not far from the main tourist hub of Istanbul lies an area wholly dedicated to wholesale textile buyers. Hundreds of shops are spread out over three endless streets, and as many workshops are crammed onto the floors of these buildings that hum to the rhythms of the sewing machines. This area welcomes thousands of buyers a year, as well as generating millions of dollars. Suits of every type, women’s clothes, shoes, leather, handbags, a turnover geared to all seasons and every fashion can be found here.

Micha, a 27-year-old Bulgarian has been selling leather handbags for almost 5 years now. It’s a lucrative business. He makes about 20,000 dollars a month and pays his sellers about 800 dollars. He says that he is worried about Turkey’s possible EU membership. “Currently, 90% of our customers are Russian, Ukrainian or from Central Asia. If we join the EU, we risk losing our customers because of the standards that will be imposed and restrictive legislation. Meeting these standards will be very expensive for us and this will be reflected in the sale price. Our customers will then buy from China. They have started doing this already, but our manufacturing quality is still better.”

Micha, a realist, refers to his recent experience with the Central and Eastern European countries, which joined the EU in 2004. “Since the Central and Eastern European countries joined last year, we have already lost a lot because it is now more difficult to export to these countries. They used to represent 20% of our customers. Unless we revise all our standards, the European market will end up by closing on us.”

He adds that enlargement to 25 new members couldn’t have happened at a worse time. “Since 2003, all business owners have been very badly hit by the war in Iraq, a market that was quite buoyant before the United States intervened.”

Aret, a 27-year-old Armenian born in Istanbul, says that he is still undecided about possible EU membership. He currently works as a salesperson for a famous Turkish publisher, and says that he is perfectly integrated in a Turkey, which he considers relatively tolerant. “There are 65,000 Armenians living in Istanbul. We have 38 churches with full religious freedom and 15 Armenian schools, which teach the Bible and not the Koran”, he says. As regards the recognition of Armenian genocide as a necessary condition for membership, Aret is not convinced. “I don’t have a problem with the genocide. That was in 1915. Things change. Of course, this is only my point of view - many Armenians here do want recognition and are making several demands. However, you only have to look at the number of Turkish-Armenian marriages and you will understand that attitudes are changing here”.

Of course, Aret would like Turkey to join the EU so that he could move around freely in Europe and visit all the big capital cities that he has always dreamed of visiting. But he is very worried about the consequent rise in inflation. “I think that EU accession would increase our prices by 15 to 20%, and the introduction of the euro, by about 30%. We don’t need that right now. Petrol has already hit record prices, costing the equivalent of 1.75 euros per litre.”

Freedom of movement

For Guney, a young Law student, EU accession is necessary in order to encourage freedom of movement for Turkish citizens. “We like European culture and wish to discover it in an unrestricted fashion, without always being refused a Schengen visa which is very difficult to get”, she explains.

There are other ways of travelling to Europe. Tarik, a retired Maths teacher in Erazit, a town on the Iraqi border, doesn’t need a Schengen visa to go to move around in Europe. “In Turkey there are three types of passports: red for diplomats, politicians and for those in the upper ranks of the army; green for certain professions such as teachers, who can only be granted the passport on request and through contacts; and lastly, the ordinary passport”. With the first two, it is possible to enter the Schengen area without any difficulty.

Yet illegal immigration is by far the most common method of entering the Schengen area. Genje, 33, an immigrant trafficker for about 10 years doesn’t see any benefits in Turkey joining the EU. In fact, that would mean the end of his business.

Nevertheless, he is confident that it won’t come to that. “Immigration will not decrease”, he says with a smile. “Despite the security policy put in place by Brussels, people will continue moving around. You would first have to train the people in charge of controlling the borders!” Indeed, all procedures seem to depend only on bribing officials at all levels.

“It starts with the embassies”, he says. “You need to find the least strict and cheapest European consular service.” He points out that it is quite difficult to bribe embassies of the Schengen area countries, setting aside the case where the French embassy in Bulgaria caused a scandal by granting visas to all kinds of Bulgarian networks.

“One consulate is quite cooperative at the moment. It’s in one of the new EU member states. We can get a visa for between 1,200 and 2,000 euros. Otherwise, it is also quite normal to pass through Russia where the visa is cheaper. Then the aim is to make it to Poland.” Since 2004, most illegal immigration is concentrated on the Polish-German border.

“This border is like a sieve and the border guards here are very easy to bribe. It reminds me of the Italian-Slovenian border. There, 25 euros is enough to get an illegal immigrant into Italy. I could get one or two vans in per day.” He makes 3,000 to 10,000 euros a day with this type of illegal trafficking, an activity that is not likely to end in the near future.