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"Turkey is growing increasingly impatient over its European Union membership bid, especially as it feels that it has completed most political and economic reforms which were demanded by the European commission. Talks over membership began in 2005, but faced opposition from Cyprus especially as Turkey has not yet opened ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.
Many Turkish citizens are beginning to feel much more confident about their burgeoning economy, and support for full EU membership is now given by just 38% of the population. This is a dramatic drop from the 73% who previously supported the move in 2004. Turkey managed to cut its budget deficit in half last year, achieving a deficit which is equivalent to 3.6% of gross domestic product which is significantly better than many EU countries including Britain whose GDP deficit is currently running at 10.5%.
The countries public works and housing minister Mustafa Demir fully expects the construction industry to achieve a 15% growth by 2015, which is partly due to the stellar economic performance. One of the few worries that the country has is the lack of energy production as the majority of it has to be imported; this is being addressed by massive investments this year into hydro electrical power plants and research and development into energy efficiency.
Many foreign countries have invested heavily in Turkey and the Finance Minister recently met with foreign investors in London and is due to meet international investors in New York this Friday. Turkey has not been idle while waiting for the EU to decide; it has concentrated on strengthening ties with other emerging economies and its Middle Eastern neighbours.
