The federal president of the Turkish Community in Germany, Hakki Keskin, has strongly criticized Merkel's proposal for offering Ankara a privileged EU partnership instead of full-fledged membership. Keskin told the Hanover-based daily Neue Presse he thought the offer was the height of impertinence. He recalled that Turkey had been associated with the European Union for nearly 40 years and should accept nothing less than full membership. "Such discrimination is outrageous," he maintained.

Heskin went on to criticize the notion -- held by many in Merkels Christian Democrats Union -- that Turkish membership of the EU would result in a new mass-migration of Turks to Germany. He pointed out that Turkey's economy was growing in a more dynamic way than Germany's, and if Turkey were given a clear perspective for EU membership, many Turkish firms would invest in Germany. And not only that, he added, if Turkey acceded to the EU, many Turks living in Germany might even return home.

Germany's largest ethnic community

Some 2.5 million Turks currently live in Germany, making them by far the largest ethnic group. Many are former "Gastarbeiter," or "guest workers" recruited in the early post-war years to meet the high demand for labor during Germany's economic miracle. Although they have lived and worked in Germany for decades; the majority of them still retain their Turkish citizenship and return home for regular visits.

Merkel's offer is superfluous

Dirk Halm of the Center for Turkish Studies in the German city of Essen told DW-WORLD Merkel's offer of a privileged status is "superfluous" anyway. Turkey already has a special relationship with the EU, he said. "Unfortunately, this has not benefited Turkey, since foreign trade has developed in the EU's favor," Halm explained.

In view of the CDU's repeated opposition to Turkey's EU bid as part of the party's campaign for June's European Parliament election, Halm said Merkel's proposal was "simply a way of trying to keep Turkey quiet."

"Turkey's suitability to join the European Union is in any case not an appropriate election campaign issue, as it is much too complicated to get across to voters," Halm said. "After all, Brussels has so far only promised to grant an audience to Turkey at the end of this year to decide whether or not to set a date for the start of accession negotiations, which could take years." Apart from that, Halm said opinion polls have shown that most Germans do not find the topic exactly riveting.

European integration

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer have been among the firmest supporters of Turkey's EU aspirations, but many other European politicians fear it would be virtually impossible to integrate the largely Muslim country into the EU. On the other hand, it seems that the 15 current and 10 incoming EU countries cannot be integrated either, as has been demonstrated only too clearly by the failure to push through a European constitution.