Changing Nature of the European Union - Turkey Relations: From Civilizational Project to Transactional Cooperation

Abstract

Turkey’s ambition to be anchored in the European integration process is one of the oldest and most challenging priorities of its foreign policy. As a symbolic coincidence, the centenary of the Republic of Turkey overlaps with the 60th anniversary of its association relationship with the then European Economic Community (EEC) during when both sides have experienced frequent fluctuations in their bilateral relations. In that sense, the idea of change has always embedded in Turkey-European Union (EU) relations corresponding to much broader changes in Turkey’s foreign policy. This study is aware of the fact that focusing on one side will provide only a partial explanation of variations in the EU-Turkey relations and aims to present the drivers of change in their mutual relations not only by focusing on the actions and inactions of the successive Turkish governments but also by paying attention to the changes in the EU’s and its member states’ policies towards Turkey. This study adopts literature review and tries to answer how Turkey’s EU policy has transformed in the last 60 years by analysing historical turning points in this period and their implications for the ongoing relations. Based on this historical analysis, this study argues that the relationship between the EU and Turkey, which has been becoming increasingly distant from each other, has lost the initial civilisational spirit and turned into a patronage symbolised by ad-hoc transactional agreement/s.