Hımmm, Mate yeah, you are right in a sense. If we can join the EU it would be good. It would benefit us...But we know that we can not be a member under no circumtances.....So, why should we continue the negotiations ?
I think it goes beyond the technical issue of membership or not; what is perhaps more concerning is that, under the pressure of this "join or not" debate, the very founding ideas of the republic are challenged by certain internal forces that hold power now.
I guess, the European focus of Turkey is beyond the institutional limits of the EU; it is broader and more civilizational because of, first of all, Turkey's founding principles, geographical proximity to Europe and its bridge status.
Obviously, Turkey has distinct national identity, but the face is turned toward Europe because Europe represents social-political progress. This is also so for us from technological perspective despite that we are rather far away from them from every aspect and our founding was mostly inspired by the northern neighbor, then-USSR. Turkey, on the other hand, has been the very anti-thesis of the USSR from the 1950s on.
I talked to academics who said that they are concerned not because that an emotional delinking from Europe would lead to the emergence of a distinct geographic identity in Turkey, but to Middle Easternization/Arabization.
It is almost for sure that the current government would attempt that, if not it is already attempting. This is especially so if the Islam is shown as being equal to the Arab culture (not that I would belittle the civilizational Arabic culture, but distinct culture is also significant for identity) and Turkey's streets, language, customs, fashion, business, entertainment look more and more like them.