Abstract Turkey has made significant efforts to fulfil requested accession criteria through socio-economic and cultural convergence with EU Member States. However, Turkey's eventual membership in the EU depends on the support of current EU citizens. This article therefore analyses citizens' attitudes towards Turkish accession in the 27 EU Member States. The analysis shows that a clear majority of citizens reject the idea of Turkey joining the EU. Four factors work rather well to explain this rejection: the economic benefit of Turkish accession, cultural differences, political ideology and general attitudes towards the EU.