Austria President Hopeful Supports Turkey as EU 'Privileged Partner,' Not Member

© REUTERS / Heinz-Peter BaderPresidential candidate Norbert Hofer (R) and head of the Austrian Freedom party Heinz-Christian Strache (L) react at the party headquarter in Vienna, Austria, April 24, 2016
Presidential candidate Norbert Hofer (R) and head of the Austrian Freedom party Heinz-Christian Strache (L) react at the party headquarter in Vienna, Austria, April 24, 2016 - Sputnik International
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Austria's presidential candidate from the Freedom Party (FPO) Norbert Hofer told Sputnik he would like to see Turkey as an EU special partner rather than a member, as it would help avoid cultural conflicts within the bloc.

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VIENNA (Sputnik) — He warned that Turkey's integration into the European Union would quickly spark cultural conflicts in the member states.

"If you look at the history you would see that conflicts among states were always caused by different cultures being brought together. As far as I [am] concerned, Turkey is a huge country with entirely different cultural values and integrating such a country into the EU would not be a good idea," Hofer said.

"I do want to see Turkey as a privileged partner with the EU, however, integrating such a big country as Turkey into the EU would most probably create conflicts," Hofer, who is set to partake in Austria's December 4 presidential elections rerun, said.

Turkey has long been seeking EU membership. In March, amid a migrant crisis in Europe, Brussels and Ankara agreed on a deal which envisages Turkey taking back all undocumented migrants that arrive in the bloc through its territory in exchange for asylum seekers from Syria.

In return, Brussels promised to provide over $3 billion to Ankara to help address the refugees' needs and to accelerate Turkey's EU accession bid. It also vowed to put in place a visa-free regime with Turkey.

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