Krı̇zler çağında Türkı̇ye - Avrupa Bı̇rlı̇ğı̇ ı̇lı̇şkı̇lerı̇ ve geleceğe yönelı̇k projeksı̇yonlar

Abstract

Turkish Republic has always been a west-oriented country since its establishment in 1923. In this regard the membership application to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1959 was a direct consequence of the desire to take part in the Western alliances. Despite the mutual willingness of the two parties the bilateral relations did not progress rapidly due to the political problems Turkey had to struggle as well as the further integration prospects of the EEC. The progress was 􀏐inally achieved in the late 1990s after the EEC was transformed into the European Union (EU) which turned to be a political community with its own single market. Turkey was 􀏐inally granted candidate status at the Helsinki Summit of 1999 where Turkey was obliged to meet the Copenhagen criteria and to harmonize its policies with the acquis communautaire of the EU. Despite the initiation of the negotiations in 3 October 2005 the bilateral relations have almost been suspended due to the internal political dynamics of the two parties as well as the international conjuncture. The main target of this study is to make a prediction about the future developments of Turkey-EU relations during the 2020s which are foreseen as the times of crisis. Accordingly, the study offers that although the EU would not be able to guarantee full membership for Turkey in the upcoming years, the bilateral relations would not be expected to be suspended due to the interdependence in the areas of energy, security and economy. Methodologically the study applies on the secondary resources to overview Turkey-EU relations during the times of crisis in history and depending on the existing literature makes a prediction about the possible scenarios which the bilateral relations could be re-formulated.