Turkey has never seemed closer to its cherished goal of starting talks to join the European Union, but not all Turks share their government's enthusiasm.
As Ankara races to complete an impressive array of political reforms in a bid to persuade EU leaders at a December summit to open negotiations, Turkish eurosceptics are warning their compatriots that membership is not all it is cracked up to be.
Unlike British eurosceptics - who clocked up big gains in June's European Parliament elections - the Turkish doubters are not so much opposed to the EU as an institution as to what they see as inevitable discrimination against Turkey.
Diplomats say the number of doubters is sure to grow once difficult negotiations start and Turks realise how much must change - for example, onerous food hygiene laws and costlier cigarettes - to bring their country into line with EU norms. "Turkey will never be a full and equal member of the EU. We are fated to have a special relationship instead," said Hasan Unal of Ankara's Bilkent University.
A "special relationship", including free trade and closer political ties but no representation in EU institutions, is an option favoured by Germany's conservative opposition, but has so far found few takers in Turkey.
An opinion poll conducted by Ankara's Middle East Technical University confirmed continued support among Turks for full membership - 73 percent for and 21 percent against. But the same poll also found nearly half of those canvassed did not believe Turkey would be invited in December to start talks, suggesting strong doubts about the EU's intentions.
Sinan Aygun, head of the Ankara Chambers of Commerce, noted that a number of politicians, especially in France, Germany and Austria, had publicly opposed Turkish membership, saying the poor Muslim country was too big and too culturally different.
"I know Turkey will fail to join the EU. I am 44 years old and we have been waiting for 40 years," said Aygun, revealing the hurt pride of a Nato ally which has watched Cold War-era foes such as Poland and Hungary leap-frog past it into the EU.
Turkey began knocking on the door of what was then the European Economic Community in 1963, but only became an official candidate in 1999. It is the only candidate still waiting to start talks due to doubts over its human rights record.
Unal insists he too is European in outlook and aspiration, but says he does not believe EU membership to be realistic.
"By 2050 we will have 100 million people, making us by far the biggest member state. We are situated in a dangerous part of the world too, next door to Iraq and Iran," he said.
Given such facts, it would be inconceivable that EU leaders - fearing large-scale immigration from poor eastern Turkey - would agree to grant Turks full free movement of movement.
Unal said he also expected the EU to withhold the kind of generous aid for farmers and infrastructure projects that helped to modernise Spain, Greece and Portugal since they joined.
To the argument that EU membership, or the prospect of it, will boost much-needed foreign investment, Aygun countered: "That is what we were told when we signed up to the Customs Union with the EU in 1995. But it never happened."
"Under the Customs Union, EU businessmen can come here freely to buy and sell but Turks are at a disadvantage because we still need visas to visit EU countries," said Aygun.
Turkey still has very low levels of foreign direct investment and despite its strong recovery from a 2001 financial crisis has yet to complete a single large-scale privatisation under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's reformist government.
But most EU diplomats in Ankara think the bloc will give a qualified 'yes' in December, though they see problems ahead.
"Like Britain but unlike Germany or France, Turkey never experienced nationalism as a catastrophe. Nationalism is the founding myth of their republic," observed one EU diplomat. "So how will they adapt to EU-style integration where more than half of laws are now made in distant Brussels?
"Perhaps the eurosceptics will prove to be right in the end and Turks will feel more comfortable staying outside," he said, adding that Turkey inside the EU may be as awkward as Britain.
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