Polls show support for EU membership down to 28% in Turkey - media

The survey found that 28% of interviewees think that Turkish membership of the EU would be "a good thing", while 39% think joining the union would be bad and 25% stated that it would be neither good nor bad. The other 8.0% refused to answer the question, according to daily Sabah.

Another survey, by the EU's polling organisation, which measured public opinion of more than 32,000 people, revealed that only 28% of Turkish respondents support Turkey's EU membership. The survey shows that Turkish support declined by 10% compared to the previous survey conducted six months ago.

Asked whether Turkey would benefit from full membership of the EU, 54% of respondents said no and only 36% chose to answer yes.

The polls follow a rebuke from the European Commission in which it said recent police raids and arrests of a number of journalists and media representatives in Turkey were incompatible with the freedom of the media.