Pamuk charges opposition to Turkey's EU bid stems from "fear of the poor"

Western opposition to Turkey's European Union membership bid stems from fear of the poor, charged Nobel laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk in Italian magazine Focus this week. "You (the West) are afraid of the poor," Pamuk told the magazine. "If Turkey were as rich as Japan, you wouldn't object to its EU membership. The press paints Turkey as moving towards Islamism and plays up the negative aspects of our culture." Pamuk added that rich countries such as France and Germany are holding back Turkey's EU membership for social and economic reasons.