HOW COMPATIBLE IS THE TURKISH POPULATION STRUCTURE WITH EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES?

Yıl 1997, Cilt: 2 Sayı: 3, 0 - 0, 01.09.1997

Aykut Toros

Öz

The governments of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey always turned towards the West when they wanted to modernise the state and the society. The roots of this perspective can be found in the reformation programmes Tanzimat of Sultan Abdülmecit, dating from 3 November, 1839, which in themselves, were the culmination of historical reformist needs developing in the sociological roots of the region. Since then, Westernization was the mainstream of development policies. The latest of the moves within this mainstream was the formal application for membership to the European Union EU on 14 April, 1987. Developing social norms and governance mechanisms which are compatible with Europe, obviously, are among the primary requirements for the coalescence of Turkey with Europe. The coalescing process should accredit this historical perspective its due respect.