03/02/2016 Party Political Broadcasts: UK Independence Party

TURKISH STYLE MUSIC

Behind me is the Bosphorus, the ancient waterway

that historically separates East from West.

97% of Turkey is actually in Asia.

Only 3% is in Europe.

But what if the whole country was to become a member state

of the European Union?

Well, that would extend the borders

of what would then be known as Europe

all the way to Iraq, Iran and Syria.

The population of Turkey is currently at 75 million.

But that is projected to rise by nine million come 2023.

That would make Turkey the EU's largest member state.

Turkey could potentially be entitled to have

the maximum number of seats in the European Parliament

that a country can occupy, with 96 MEPs.

The UK only gets 73.

If Turkey were already a member of the EU then technically

she could expect to receive

one third of the EU's entire structural aid budget,

a whopping £11 billion.

And a further £8 billion in farming subsidies -

three times more than UK farmers receive.

It would also mean that Turkey would be getting out

as much as the UK taxpayer is paying in.

With an average monthly salary in Turkey of just £429,

compared to £2,200 in the UK,

it's predicted as many as 15 million migrants

could leave for Europe within the first ten years of EU membership.

In Turkey, it's actually a criminal offence

to criticise the government,

that could land you with a jail sentence.

Last year, nine journalists were sent to prison in Turkey.

On a list of press freedoms, Turkey ranks 149th out of 180 countries.

It might explain why I felt more comfortable filming this

back here in the UK.

According to a United Nations report in 2011,

women in Turkey are ten times more likely to suffer physical violence

than those in Europe.

It's estimated there's one honour killing

every single week in Istanbul alone.

And more than a quarter of Turkish women

are married before their 18th birthday.

At the start of the last century,

one fifth of the population of Turkey was Christian.

But over the course of 100 years

that community has dramatically disappeared.

Today, only 0.2% of people in Turkey practise Christianity openly.

Recent changes to education policy has also seen a great number

of state schools turned into Islamic Imam schools,

with many pupils who can't afford to pay for their schooling

being forced to accept a religious education instead.

When the current ruling party first came to power,

the number of pupils registered at Imam schools was 63,000.

Today, that number is closer to a million.

Just days after filming outside the Hagia Sophia,

a suicide attacker detonated a bomb in the same location,

killing ten tourists.

The assailant has been identified as an Islamic State affiliate

who had come into the country from Syria.

David Cameron has been pushing hard

for Turkey to become the 29th member state.

We, the British people, are not going to have a say on that.

This is just one of the major risks to Britain

coming down the tracks from the EU.

When the referendum comes, vote to leave.