EU: Savior of the Damned

Turkish governments have been trying to join the European union for years. Despite all the difficult tasks that have to be achieved in order to join the EU, Turkish governments are persistent. Turkish citizens seem to agree with their governments, too. Why do we insist on becoming a member of the union then? It is probably because of the differences between the happiness levels of Turkish and EU citizens. A study has been conducted on contentment and optimism of people in Turkey and the EU, which revealed that as a nation we have low levels of satisfaction and happiness. Nearly two thirds of Turkish people are discontent with their lives, while four fifths of the EU citizens are satisfied with their lives. Approximately the same results can be observed on peoples thoughts about their countries present and future conditions. It is obvious that people in the EU are happier than the people in Turkey, but why are we unhappy and pessimistic in contrast to EU citizens? There are plenty of reasons for the discontentment of people in Turkey compared to those in EU, but there are some reasons of greater significance, such as differences in income, welfare, and stability. First of all, it is known that there is a great gap between the incomes of Turkish and EU citizens. This means that a person in EU who does the same job as a person in Turkey will receive a higher salary in Europe than in Turkey. Similarly, an unemployed person in EU is paid more or has more pension and social rights than an unemployed person in our country. Moreover, there is another fact which is a result of earlier ones: there are many people below poverty line and starvation limit in Turkey. These conditions lead to dissatisfaction in the country, we cannot be happy when we are starving, can we? Furthermore, Turkish economic and government systems lack stability. Considering successive crises and growths following these, it can be said that Turkish economy is fluctuating. Just as the economy, government has no sign of continuity. Each new government blames the previous governments and changes what they have done. These acts are justified as being necessary but generally lead to nothing but corruption. Lack of continuity causes confusion, as people need time to get used to new conditions. If you do not give them enough time and change the conditions again, just like in Turkey, the result will be confusion followed by depression. However, in Europe there is a system that goes on without great disruptions, which means that there is a stable life and a predictable, better to say a hopeful, future. As I mentioned before, our persistence in joining the EU may be because of their happiness against our discontentment. We hope to find satisfaction, which we could not find alone, in Europe. Considering the fact that neither EU nor any other unions can grant happiness without any effort, is it not better that we work for our own benefit, not only to join the EU?