GERMANY: Derek Scally, in Berlin, visits 'Little Istanbul' to sample the reaction to Turkey's prospect of EU membership.
It's easy to see why Berliners refer to the neighbourhood of Kreuzberg as "Little Istanbul". Turkish is the language of the street and headscarves are the norm. The air is perfumed by the kebab shops on every corner and the aroma of cloves from the huge water pipes the elderly men smoke as they sit outside cafes and watch the world go by.
Nowhere else in Europe is home to as many Turks as Germany. Four decades after the arrival of the first gastarbeiter - or guest workers - the Turkish community today numbers around 2.5 million, with up to 700,000 now holding German citizenship. "I think it will be good for the ordinary man if Turkey joins the EU," says Turkish-born Mehmet Toy, who came to Germany eight years ago and has a German wife. "Real democracy will come in Turkey because people value it and we really need it."
In a nearby barber shop, a copy of the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet lies on the table with an EU headline. "It would be better if Turkey stayed out," says the 53-year-old Turkish-born barber, who declines to give his name. He is a Syrian-Orthodox Christian and says he experienced discrimination regularly in Turkey. He has lived half his life in Germany and now holds a German passport.
"Turks have black hearts. They are intolerant against non-Muslims and you can't improve them," he says with an earnest expression. "I hope I don't live to see the day."
No one seems to care much about the EU inside the nearby smoke-filled cafe,, where all concentration of the men is on their game of dominoes.
Aydia Atilla came to Germany in 1973, but the Germans are still "them" and Turkey remains his homeland, he says. The middle-aged man has no time for the Germans who say Turkey doesn't belong in the EU.
"We don't care what they think," he says. "It's our chance to make things really better."
Muzaffer Gün (36), says the accession process will only be a success if it has the full backing of the EU. "When you have someone like the Chancellor so firmly behind you, it makes it easier to make good laws that really improve things." He criticises the proposal from German conservatives of a "privileged partnership" for Turkey without full membership.
"The idea of a privileged partnership is absurd. I see no vision or long-term thinking in it," he says. "Turkey has so much to gain, economically but also emotionally."
He is also critical of loose talk in German newspapers of a supposed €30 billion annual price tag for Turkey in the EU, a quarter of which Germans will pay. Muzaffer says that speculation about the price-tag is shortsighted.
"The EU will make it much healthier for the whole region and everyone will benefit from this peace wave, as far as Israel," he says.