Insight Turkey
Insight Turkey
Challenging ideas
On Turkish politics and International affairs

Author

David Lovell

Professor, Head of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia, [email protected]
David Lovell
Turkey in Europe: Record, Challenges and the Future
July 1, 2011
The relationship between Turkey (and its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire) and Europe has been long, often tense or openly hostile, and is in some senses fundamental to the identities and development of each; this relationship also adds a considerable burden of suspicion to Turkey’s current aim of joining the European Union (EU). This essay examines these propositions by providing an account of the history of the relationship and of Europe’s recent, conditional approach to Turkish accession to the EU. While accepting that much remains to be done at the institutional level to bring Turkey into alignment with EU norms, this paper argues that Turkish accession is a historic opportunity for Europe that it should not squander. Despite mixed signals, further development of Turkey’s democracy along the path to Europe is the most likely course. The story is not “never-ending”, but the end will not come quickly.

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