Updated | 'No reason to oppose Turkish membership', Tonio Borg reacts to Pullicino Orlando

Additional reporting by Karl Stagno Navarra.

Turkey's membership into the EU will require parliamentary approval, but the Nationalist government has one MP who will not be toeing the official government line, going by his statements on Facebook.

Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has added a new tinge to his eclectic political make-up, using his Facebook wall to express his "total" opposition to Turkish membership of the European Union.

The MP, who led a historic campaign that introduced divorce in Malta in 2011, provided a little dampener to proceedings as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning met Turkey's chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis at Castille.

In complete contrast to Gonzi's reiteration of Malta's support for Turkish membership, Pullicino Orlando said in his Facebook status update that the "government does not have a mandate" to support Turkish accession to the EU.

But in a reaction, foreign minister Tonio Borg said there was no reason not to accept Turkey once it fulfils all criteria of EU membership. "The final decision will be eventually taken by the Maltese parliament since any addition of a new member, for example Croatia, needs parliamentary approval."

Turkey was accepted as an EU candidate country by the European Union in 2004 with negotiations starting in 2005. At the time, all EU member states accepted the candidature.

"A candidate country can only accede to EU membership once it fulfils all the necessary criteria. There are 35 chapters to be fulfilled out of which 13 have been opened, 8 frozen, 5 blocked and 1 chapter is provisionally closed," Borg said. "In December 2006, the European Council froze eight chapters until Turkey fulfils its obligations to implement the additional protocol to the Association Agreement."

The Labour opposition through MP Leo Brincat, has also expressed support for Turkish membership, in a meeting held in the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.

While Pullicino Orlando's outburst refers to the lack of parliamentary consultation between government and MPs on its foreign policy, the MP insisted that Turkey does not culturally belong to Europe, and - redolent of his past anti-immigration stand - said Turkish membership would flood the rest of the EU with Turkish immigrants: even if legally they would then be considered EU citizens.

"I, for one, am totally against it. Turkey is not culturally 'European', accession would result in a wave of Turkish immigrants and widening the EU to include Turkey will prevent consolidation of the political and economic union which is already difficult in the current economic climate.

"Turkey is too big, and will therefore exercise too much power within the EU. It is also too poor, and will cost the rest of the EU too much. This issue should be discussed in parliament before we get declarations in favour of Turkey's accession and promises of support by our foreign minister."

In comments to MaltaToday, Pullicino Orlando said he has been expressing himself internally on Turkish membership to the EU several times, even with the Prime Minister.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg yesterday said there was no reason to exclude Turkey, which will add 72 million new citizens to the European Union, from the EU if all the necessary criteria are fulfilled. "This has always been Malta's position on the matter," Borg said.

While Pullicino Orlando has been prone to take liberal political stands that put him at loggerheads with the conservative leadership of the PN - specifically on divorce and gay marriage most recently - he has been unequivocally in favour of repelling asylum seekers without proper documentation to enter Malta.

"I suggest that they should be treated in the same way we would treat any other visitor who does not have the proper documentation and is trying to gain entry into our islands illegally. Send them back," Pullicino Orlando had written in The Times.

"When the weather is fair and at the earliest opportunity, they should be towed back into international waters in the direction they came from."

Supporters of Turkey's membership say the country is a key regional power, apart from being Nato's second largest military force. Upon joining the EU, Turkey will elect the second largest number of MEPs, perhaps even surpassing Germany due to its large population by 2020.

In December 2011, a poll showed that as much as 71% of the participants surveyed in Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK were opposed to Turkey's membership in the European Union.