How would an EU membership benefit Turkey and the World?
The European Union is the general name for the economic cooperation made by the Treaty of Rome. For the past half a century, the EU has gone through rapid development towards growth and cooperation.
It was founded by six countries that formed the European Economic Community (EEC). Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France were the initial members, while now the EU has 27 members across the continent.
European Union opened up the trading and borders between member countries and allowed the countries to strengthen each other's economy under a single currency of the Euro. Through the union, borders within the member countries have been removed for their citizens, and opened free travel, living, and work throughout most of the continent.
The core values of the EU are seen as the respect for human rights, including an individual’s right to dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law. What began as a purely economic union has evolved into a larger organization spanning most governmental policy areas. The members of the European Union have delivered over a century of peace, stability, communication, and prosperity as well as, delivering a rise in the standard of living.
Why does Turkey want to join the EU?
Being a member of the European Union has more benefits than harm for both the new member and old. The most important one being, the economic stability and safety for the member countries. The EU provides member countries an economic relief by organizing the free trade of goods and services.
Since Turkey is a nation that touches 3 different international seas and shares borders with 8 different countries (in which 4 of them are in the EU), the country would open up more trade routes and create more economic growth opportunities for themselves and the 27 members.
The economic benefits do not end there for the lone country. At the time of this article going live, 1 Euro is equal to 8.88 Turkish Liras. If Turkey joins the EU, Turkey will switch over to the collective currency with the rest of the member countries. Since there are relief packages set up by the EU for new members, this step would help the country slowly evade the economic crisis it may experience in the future, as well as help improve the general quality of life for the citizens.
Free Travel and Cultural Development Opportunity
Perhaps the closest branch of benefits to the economy, free travel would open new doors for both sides. While both sides have a massive ancient historical background, Turkey's history is unmatched. The nation shares half of the ancient history with Greece, yet both sides are unable to experience the ruins of those times since the artifacts are scattered on the two countries of the Aegean Sea. Many of the Greek Islands on the Aegean are closer to mainland Turkey than to their country of origin, yet the citizens must go through a painful visa process to travel 5 minutes on a boat.
As Turkey has one of the youngest populations in the region and EU nations are slowly falling back on the workforce, Turkey could help to boost the production line and boost the Euro further than it already is right now.
While the nation has experienced and is still going through a sole defense on the borders of the middle-east, EU nations could lend a hand on the problems the country has to deal with, making sure that Turkey can focus on boosting their production rather than spend unnecessary budget on the military, as well as on immigration reliefs.
Turkey has borrowed from and influenced every country it has interacted with, perhaps more than any other thanks to its unique location. Its citizens had the chance to experience and mix with many other nationals, and most of the general public had a broad range of knowledge of their ancestry that could reach to the other end of the world. While English is not the official second language of the country, it is on their education curriculum, making the general public understand most of the language.
Turkish as a language may be difficult to add to the EU's curriculum, but the usage of the Latin alphabet, and plenty of borrowed words from other Angelo-Saxon languages has made the Turkish the perfect candidate for any curious EU citizens. Through the open borders, Turkish could mix into the daily EU life, while the languages of 27 members could create new job lines in the country, and help new people meet one another.
As more people interact with one another, the two sides could see more influx of new citizens. Joining the EU could help Turkey boost real estate, and other property sales, as well as have more investments in the country, while the members of the EU can settle in the country through an easier process.
