Negotiation Between Turkey and European Union

Negotiation between Turkey and European Union: Process of Turkey’s

Membership in the EU

History of European Union

European Union^[1] was not the first union in the European continent. Before EU there were another unions, which were aiming improvements in economy of member European countries. European Coal and Steel Community^[2] founded in 1961 by six European countries with an aim at regulation of member countries economy (Alter & Steinberg 2007, P. 3). ECSC is seen by many as a first step of EU.

European countries had been devastated because of World War II, by any means. Economy, Politics, Society had affected the most. EU founded by countries with policies aim to improved human rights, capital with in the internal market, freedom of speech and thought, freedom of traveling^[3], free exchange of goods, capital etc. (Europe.eu).

Accession Criteria of EU

Accession Criteria of EU have determined by Copenhagen Criteria in 1993. According to this agreement every candidate country must fulfill these criteria without any exceptions. These criteria are described by official website of European Union as:

“political criteria: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities;

economic criteria: a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces;

administrative and institutional capacity to effectively implement the acquis and ability to take on the obligations of membership.”(Europe.eu).

The Negotiation of Turkey and EU

One should consider EU as a dominant party in these negotiations, since Turkey want to be recognize as a member of EU by EU and EU determine the circumstances.

Relations between Turkey and EU had started in 1959 with an application of Turkey for European Economy Community. Turkey’s first step had started with Ankara Association Agreement in 1963. That followed by becoming a member of customs union in 1995, which is a controversial topic between Turkish scholars, because of its effects on Turkish economy^[4]. The negotiations officially had started in 2005. Despite that eight chapters didn’t open until Cyprus issues manage. After the Refugee crises, Turkey became the country, which is welcoming highest number of refugee(about 3 Millions) in the world. In return, EU gave some criteria for Turkey to fulfill. Some of these criteria were freedom of speech free media etc. According to this agreement turkey will have support about 3€ Milliards from EU and the EU-Visa liberalization, if Turkey would fulfill the requirements of the agreement. At the end of the period, Turkey didn’t get the EU-Visa liberalization (European.eu). In return, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the European countries and said he would also broke his promise and send the refugees to Europe. But in the end, nothing happened. Currently the negotiations between Turkey and EU had been suspended.