One of Turkey's most influential business groups, TUSIAD,...

One of Turkey's most influential business groups, TUSIAD, placed full-page advertisements in national newspapers calling on politicians not to squander the opportunity of joining the European Union.
The high-profile intervention came the day after rightist deputy prime minister Devlet Bahceli signalled deepening divisions within the coalition government over Turkey's EU ambitions and the democratic reforms needed if it is to join. Bahceli's Nationalist Action Party (MHP) has long resisted abolishing the death penalty and easing restrictions on the Kurdish language, arguing that such measures could threaten Turkey's unity and would amount to appeasing "terrorists" of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"Turkey's future is within the European Union," TUSIAD said, adding that the key issues of abolishing the death penalty and lifting bans on broadcasting and education in the Kurdish language were the most important items on Turkey's agenda.