An outbreak of Turkey-bashing in the run-up to European elections has dismayed politicians and diplomats in Ankara already worried that progress towards European Union accession is grinding to a halt.

From Nicolas Sarkozy’s loud insistence that Turkey merits only a “privileged partnership” with the EU, to the nationalist rhetoric of hard-right parties in the Netherlands, Austria and Bulgaria, every hint of criticism is chewed over by the Turkish media as another rebuff to the 50 year campaign for EU membership.