Expecting the Same Results From Dissimilar Legal Texts: An Assessment of Association Agreements of Türkiye and Greece

Year 2024, Volume: 23 Issue: 1, 101 - 127, 06.06.2024

T. Mesut Eren

https://doi.org/10.32450/aacd.1344921

Abstract

In this article, the Association Agreements of Greece, which signed the first association agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC), and then Türkiye, which signed a similar agreement, were compared. It has been argued for a long time that the Athens and Ankara Agreements concluded by the EEC at that time were alike agreements, and that the Ankara Agreement was even “inspired” by the Athens Agreement. This article tries to reveal that although the aims and purposes of these Agreements are similar, they diverge considerably when examined closely both in spirit and wording. It is understood that the protection shown and the political support given to Greece played an important role in the major difference in their functioning and speed. The argument of the article is that the Athens Agreement was prepared from the very beginning by the EEC to bring Greece to full membership as quickly as possible. Indeed, thanks to this agreement, Greece entered the customs union with the EEC in 1968 and became a full member of the Union in 1981. The Ankara Agreement with Türkiye, on the other hand, appears to be a derivative agreement very close to the Athens Agreement at first glance, but it is an agreement with different important clauses and a “deliberately” weakened regulative power. As a result, the Ankara Agreement, which is still in force and forms the legal basis of the relations of Türkiye with the EU, neither at the time it was signed nor today has the proper content to carry Türkiye into full membership. It is not meaningful in this context to expect equal results from legal texts that differ in this way. This paper attempts to prove this assertion.

Keywords

Association, EU Membership, Türkiye, Greece, European Economic Community

Farklı Hukuk Metinlerinden Benzer Sonuçlar Beklemek: Türkiye ve Yunanistan Ortaklık Anlaşmalarının Karşılaştırılması

Abstract

Bu makalede Avrupa Ekonomik Topluluğu ile ilk ortaklık anlaşması imzalayan Yunanistan ve ardından benzer bir anlaşmayı imzalayan Türkiye’nin ortaklık anlaşmaları karşılaştırılmıştır. O zamanki adıyla AET’nin imzaladığı Atina ve Ankara Anlaşmalarının benzer anlaşmalar oldukları, hatta Ankara Anlaşmasının Atina Anlaşmasından esinlenildiği uzun süredir savunulmuştur. Bu makale, bu Anlaşmaların hedefleri ve yapılış amaçları benzer olsa da hem ruhu hem de lafzı yakından incelendiğinde önemli derecede ayrıştıklarını ortaya koymaktadır. İşleyiş ve tempolarında ortaya çıkan farklılıkta ise Yunanistan’a gösterilen himaye ve verilen siyasi desteğin önemli rol oynadığı anlaşılmaktadır. Makalenin iddiası şudur: Atina Anlaşması AET tarafından en başından Yunanistan’ı en hızlı şekilde tam üyeliğe taşımak için hazırlanmıştır. Bu anlaşma sayesinde Yunanistan 1968 yılında AET ile gümrük birliğine girmiş, 1981 yılında da Birliğe tam üye olabilmiştir. Türkiye ile yapılan Ankara Anlaşması ise, ilk bakışta Atina Anlaşmasına benzer şekilde düzenlenmiş bir türev anlaşma gibi görülse de önemli maddeleri farklı şekilde düzenlenmiş ve yaptırım gücü bilinçli olarak zayıflatılmış bir anlaşmadır. Sonuç olarak, halen yürürlükte olan Ankara Anlaşması, AB ile olan ilişkilerimizin (müzakere eden ülke statüsü ile birlikte) hukuki temelini oluşturmaktadır. Ancak, bu anlaşma Atina Anlaşması’nın aksine, ne imzalandığı dönemde ne bugün Türkiye’yi tam üyeliğe taşıyacak bir içerik ve kapsama sahip olmamıştır. Bu şekilde farklılaşan hukuki metinlerden benzer sonuçları beklemek de bu bağlamda anlamlı değildir. Elinizdeki çalışma bu tezi kanıtlamaya çalışmaktadır.

Keywords

Ortaklık, AB üyeliği, Türkiye, Yunanistan, Avrupa Ekonomik Topluluğu

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