RECON Online Working Paper 2009/15

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Is there a Europeanisation of Turkish Foreign Policy?

An Addendum to the Literature on EU Candidates

Meltem Müftüler-Baç (Sabanci University) and Yaprak Gürsoy (Istanbul Bilgi University)

Abstract

When Turkey began its accession negotiations with the European Union on 3 October 2005, this constituted an important turning point for Turkey’s relations with the EU and for Turkish socio-political transformation. This paper poses the following questions; is there a Europeanisation of Turkish foreign policy as a result of Turkey’s accession negotiations with the EU? If so, then what are the main areas and limits in which Europeanisation of Turkish foreign policy has occurred? This paper answers these questions by providing a background on Europeanisation, firstly by differentiating between the member states and the candidate countries, and secondly by analysing the Europeanisation of Turkish foreign policy through an investigation of the changes in Turkish foreign policy since 1999 with regards to the CFSP, NATO-EU cooperation and Middle Eastern neighbors.

Keywords

Common Foreign and Security Policy – Enlargement – Europeanisation – Turkey

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