TURKEY’S APPROACH TOWARDS THE EU: VIEWS FROM WITHIN

Year 2003, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 1 - 19, 01.09.2003

Zuhal Yeşilyurt Gündüz

Abstract

Even a cursory view of different Turkish perceptions of the European Economic Community EEC , or as it later became, the European Community EC and then the European Union EU , reveals quite different opinions and positions amongst Turkish political parties, labor unions and trade and business associations at different periods of time. On one side, one can notice the attitude of moderate circles, which regarded association and accession as the continuation of the traditional westernization drive of the modern Turkish state, even while they also found words of criticism for the association. On the other, the extreme left and right both considered the EEC as a power strange to Turkish culture and rejected it vehemently. After the military intervention of 12 September 1980, most political parties and interest groups increasingly linked Turkey’s EC membership to the protection and stabilization of Turkish democracy. The reasons for this were the domestic political consequences of military intervention democracy and human rights , and developments with regard to foreign policy especially regional re-Islamizing tendencies . Although the negotiation process for the Customs Union was criticized by most Turkish opinion-makers, the furthering of the integration process with the EU was mainly welcomed. Voices of criticism from the Islamic right fell increasingly. The reasons for changes in some points of view will be analyzed in this paper.

References

• ¾ ‘Gümrük Birliği Hakkında Bildiri’ Atatürkçü Düşünce, December 1995, pp.38.
• ¾ ‘The Customs Union: For Better or Worse?’ Briefing no. 1032, 13 March, 1995, Ankara, pp. 6-10.
• ¾ Klaus-Detlev Grothusen, Außenpolitik, in Klaus-Detlev Grothusen ed., Türkei SüdosteuropaHandbuch, Band 5, (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1985), pp.89-168.
• ¾ Selim İlkin, A Short History of Turkey’s Association with the European Community, in Ahmet Evin and Geoffrey Denton eds., Turkey and the European Community, (Leske Verlag, Opladen, 1990), pp.35-50.
• ¾ Ridvan Karluk, Avrupa Birliği ve Türkiye, (Beta Basım Yayın, Eskişehir, 1994).
• ¾ Heinz Kramer, Die Europäische Gemeinschaft und die Türkei. Entwicklung, Probleme und Perspektiven einer schwierigen Partnerschaft, (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden, 1988).
• ¾ Mülkiyeliler: Gümrük Birliği’ne Hayır! Gümrük Birliğine Karşı Kamu Vicdanına Sesleniş, Mülkiyeliler Birliği Dergisi, 20 (1996) 187, pp.46-48.
• ¾ Marc Paoloni, The Outlook for EC-Turkish Relations, in Mary Strang and Arlene Redmond eds., Turkey and the European Community. A Forum Europe Conference in Partnership with the Turkish Permanent Delegation to the European Communities, (Forum Europe, Palais des Congrès – Brussels, October 30-31, 1991), pp.15-48.
• ¾ Trevor Penrose, Is Turkish Membership Economically Feasible?, in Dankwort Rustow and Trevor Penrose, Turkey and the Community, The Mediterranean Challenge: V, (Sussex European Research Center, Sussex, 1981), pp.41-98.
• ¾ Eric Roleau, The Challenges to Turkey Foreign Affairs, 72 (1993) 5, pp.110-126.
• ¾ Dankwort Rustow, The Roses and the Thorne, in Dankwort Rustow and Trevor Penrose (eds.), Turkey and the Community, The Mediterranean Challenge: V, (Sussex European Research Center, Sussex, 1981), pp.1-40.
• ¾ Mümtaz Soysal, Tutku, Mülkiyeliler Birliği Dergisi, 19 (1995) 178, pp.17-18.
• ¾ Rainer Werle and Renate Kreile, Renaissance des Islam. Das Beispiel Türkei, (Junius Verlag, Hamburg, 1987).