Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.6 / Trend R.Hafizoglu /
Over 5 million Turks live in Europe, and despite the fact that Turkey has not been accepted to the EU, these 5 million Turks are evidence that Turkey is a member, the TRT Turk TV channel quotes Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Tuesday.
Erdogan said Turkey looked upon the EU admiringly 10 years ago, and now the EU looks upon Turkey's economic growth admiringly.
"If so, then Turkey may abandon the EU membership," he said.
Talks on Turkey's EU membership have been carried out since 2005. Despite the support of most of the EU countries, France and Germany stubbornly refuse to give it full membership, proposing instead a "privileged partnership", with which Ankara does not agree.