An independent think tank group Policy Exchange sought an answer to the question of “How big is the gap” between EU and Turkey at it's Westminster event on 9th of November.

John Peet reminded the audience that Turkey was the first recognised candidate and made its first application some 40 years ago. Whilst mentioning the recent improvements in Turkey, he also talked about the country’s size and said “many people says it too big, it is not a criteria of EU whether to be big or small country and in fact EU suffers from having too many small countries”.

He addressed some Europe wide concerns about Turkey EU bid and said ‘many people says its too poor, being poor is not a criteria and its richer than many other countries like Bulgaria.’ Peet’s talk and answers was bit like a snapshot of country’s current position and included all hot topics such as Islam, Turkey’s large army and human right concerns.

Nadine Matter’s exploit of her thoughts about Turkey was rather colourful and she mentioned Turkey as ‘land of contradiction’. She pointed out about the attendance that this talk received from Turkish Embassy and she said that this is the first time she had a registered guest from Turkish Embassy attending. She also talked about the recent changes in Turkey and Turkish law and categorised these changes as a necessary changes that happened with EU concept. As well as talking about the positive improvements she also voiced human rights concerns on controversial topics such as ethnic and cultural rights.

The guests also had a significant input during the event and raised issues such as Cyprus. They also questioned the frequent mentioning of human rights when the debate was about the Turkey-EU application and they pointed some of the unfair approaches.

The event was organised in ten minute talk of each speakers followed by questions and answers. This very informative event received a high interest from variety of people and much welcomed by organisers.

This event was another step towards Turkey and EU integration.