It gives aid to a neighbour , so what ? David Cameron said it because he was in the luxurious position where he could strengthen ties with Turkey , fully conscious of the fact that there was a snowballs chance in hell of them actually doing in anytime soon . It really did not look in the slightest bit a dead cert outcome , not least with what is happening next door . Erdogan has been sucking the democracy from Turkey for a few years now , which if you followed Turkish politics at all you would know . Strong democracy being one of the necessary principles for entry . This is before we even get on to the various issues it has with EU neighbours , the fact the French are legally required to have a referendum on the issue . It ' s utterly disingenuous to claim it as a dead cert , in fact it ' s utterly deluded .