Turkey's Foreign Policy toward EU Membership: A Security Perspective, Fall 2004

Sunday, December 5, 2004

Turkey’s potential contributions to the EU Common Foreign and Defense Policy (CFSP) will play an important role in the decision which will be made regarding the opening of accession negotiations. Therefore, this article briefly describes the evolution of Turkey’s foreign policy and analyzes whether Turkish and EU foreign policies are compatible particularly in light of the EU Security Strategy document prepared by the CFSP High Representative Javier Solana and adopted by the European Council in December 2003.Turkey expects to begin accession negotiations with the European Union at the beginning of 2005. Ankara’s fulfillment of the Copenhagen Political Criteria will be the basis of the decision to be made by the EU Council in December 2004. Although fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria forms the basis for beginning accession negotiations, it seems that in the case of Turkey the EU's foreign and security vision will play an important role in the decision. The aim of this assertion is not that the EU’s decision will be based only on strategic choices and that the fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria is no longer the primary basis of that decision. It only means that Turkey’s potential contribution to Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) may help balance opposition towards her full membership based on cultural-religious arguments, which are not related to the fulfillment of the Copenhagen political criteria...Please click here to read the text in full.

Turkey's Foreign Policy toward EU Membership: A Security Perspective, Fall 2004

Can Buharalı