Cdr David Lingard, RN (Rtd), of Old Mill Lane, Dartmouth, writes:

It is not entirely clear why Lord Dartmouth feels that the inhabitants of at least part of his Euro constituency need to know his – or perhaps Brussels – views on Turkey, Time to rethink the policy? Letters, March 28. Is it really part of UKIP policy?

It is, however, apparent that he has little real knowledge of Turkey and its people.

For those of us who have spent time in Turkey – I had the privilege of working for three years in our embassy in Ankara – we learned a lot of the Turkish culture and to respect the people who would not, incidentally, have any desire to come to these shores in search of work or benefits.

Turkey and its people may not be perfect but in recent years they have made steady progress towards meeting EU requirements and their economy is strengthening the whole time, not least through their associate membership of the EU.

Their legal system is from the 1920s and fully European; their language is written with European characters; and English is widely spoken, including in many schools and universities for teaching.

There may be some corruption but no more than in this or any other mainstream European country.

Lord Dartmouth has misinterpreted the events of 1974 in Cyprus which unseated – for a while – Archbishop/President Makarios when the Greek Colonels inserted General Grivas (ex-EOKA) into the island to stir up trouble with the aim of Enosis (union with Greece) which resulted in a coup by the National Guard.

Neither we – as a guarantor power – nor the Americans did anything about it as we had too much to lose. Greece was also a guarantor of the island's integrity and Turkey – the third guarantor – therefore acted to look after the safety of their own kith and kin.

He points out that most of Turkey is in Asia, but that is an arbitrary line which is also drawn somewhere across Russia - so I have to say 'so what?'.

The people of Turkey are hard working and in many ways have more in common with north Europeans than with the Mediterranean peoples; there is no siesta in Turkey!

Turkic peoples originated from Asia many centuries ago and through empire have drawn in many others from Europe. They are most definitely not 'Middle Eastern'. Around 90 per cent plus are Muslim but it is their own version and there are very few extremists.

Turkey is a strong, proud and loyal member of NATO; her economy is on the up and if she continues to be rejected because Brussels fails to understand her peoples and culture then Europe will be the loser. It is easy to point the finger, but these are good people who have consciously aspired to be recognised as part of the European family for some 90 years.

In the past, Lord Dartmouth's family have done a good deal of travelling, indeed we have a nearly 200-year-old passport of a member of his family in Dartmouth Museum. Perhaps he should emulate the example of his ancestors.