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Nearly 80 percent of the Turkish public supports EU membership, a senior Turkish official in charge of relations with the bloc said on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported.

"I can inform you that 79 percent of the Turkish people want EU membership," said Faruk Kaymakce, deputy foreign minister and director of EU affairs.

He wrote this in a post on Twitter in response to a post by a representative of the European Commission's political communications service.

Tom Moylan posted on his personal Twitter account a graphic titled "Who most wants to join the EU?", along with pictures of more than ten countries - but without including long-time EU candidate Turkey.

The Turkish foreign minister warned Greece not to engage in adventures on behalf of others

Kaymakce responded to this post saying: "Dear Tom, the EU picture would not be complete and fair without Turkey, a candidate negotiating with the EU. Leaving out and adding those who are not even candidates for EU membership distorts the EU picture ".

Moylan later responded that he did not make the graphic but thought it was interesting, admitting that indeed "Turkey is a glaring omission".

Turkey applied for EU membership as early as 1987, and its accession negotiations began in 2005. In the years since, negotiations have been essentially frozen, which Ankara says is due to political blockages by some EU members for reasons , which are not related to her suitability for membership.

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