Large numbers of Turkish people would not head for richer European Union countries once Turkey becomes a member, an Oireachtas committee has been told.
Responding to fears expressed by Fianna Fáil TD Mr Seán Haughey the Turkish Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Ahmet Berki Dibek said: "I do not think that it will create a big problem."
The EU could stop Turkish workers working freely anywhere in the Union for some years after the country joined. "It is possible to apply transitional periods.There is no need to over-emphasise this.
"It is very early to express fears in this regard," he told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs, which will next week send a delegation to Turkey to investigate the country's fitness for EU membership.
Turkey, said the ambassador, was living proof that Islam and democracy could mix: "It would be a great mistake to define the world as the West, and the rest. There is no possibility for the EU to hide itself behind a high wall.
"And it isn't wise either. There is no alternative except to reach out and embrace Islam. We are a secular country. Islam doesn't constitute a threat to the region," Mr Dibek declared.
Nearly 80 per cent of the Turkish population strongly supports EU membership. "You ask, 'Do you feel European?' Yes, we do feel European," he said.Europe, he added, can be defined culturally, historically, and religiously.
"We believe it comes from common universal values. The EU is an ideal. Universal values are not to be monopolised by anyone."
Later, he said: "I don't think multi-culturalism will be a handicap.
"We're not becoming a member tomorrow. It will take a long time. The idea of the negotiating process is to prepare candidate countries for membership."
The opening of EU accession negotiations, he said, would encourage foreign investment in Turkey, thus boosting the country's economy and cutting unemployment.
A number of committee members criticised Turkey's treatment of Greek Cypriots, its refusal to recognise Cyprus and its conduct towards the Kurdish minority, which makes up approximately 20 per cent of the country's population.
Facing questions from Independent Senator, Mr Feargal Quinn about Turkey's treatment of women, Mr Dibek said that 42 per cent of university students and 34 per cent of professional workers are women.
"Thirty-four per cent of professors are women. That is on a par with the United States," said Mr Dibek, adding that the criminal penalties for so-called "crimes of honour" are to be increased heavily shortly.
Forced marriages do still occur, he conceded: "But compared to other Islamic countries we have a low percentage of forced marriages. It is a rather rural custom that happens very seldom in the cities."
Sinn Féin TD Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh, who has in the past been critical of plans to let Turkey join the EU, said he did not believe the time is right for the EU to open negotiations.
Turkey should be required formally to recognise every existing member-state of the EU, including Cyprus, before accession talks began, said Mr Ó Snodaigh, who criticised some Turkish national security laws.
Facing questions from Fianna Fáil Dún Laoghaire TD, Mr Barry Andrews, the ambassador said over 100,000 people out of 300,000 forced to leave their homes in Kurdish areas have returned.
