Turkey and the European Union

Introduction

This paper argues that Turkey's links with the EU mirror many of the problematic areas which challenge the Turkish politics and foreign policy into action. The first of these problematic areas relates to the Turkey's official view of Europe as somehow representing the inner core of 'contemporary civilisation'. Turkey has been an associate member of the EU1 since the signing of the Ankara Agreement in 1963.2 Besides laying down a programmatic framework for future economic integration between the parties, as its final objective, the Ankara Agreement foresaw Turkey's accession to the EEC as a full member (as distinct from 'associate member'). The agreement was to proceed in three distinct stages: preparatory, transitional, and final stages.

During the first stage, although Turkey would enjoy financial advantages and tariff concessions for its exports, it had no corresponding obligations(Hartley, 46-47). The transitional stage, regulated by the Additional Protocol3 of 1970, was based on reciprocal obligations between Turkey and the EEC. This protocol foresaw the creation of a customs union between the signatories. While Turkey's Community partners undertook to dismantle customs duties and quantitative restrictions for Turkish industrial exports, with the exception of textiles, immediately, Turkish obligations regarding the EEC exports of industrial products spanned over a period of twenty two years. It was during this stage that the seeds of disagreements, misunderstandings and conflicts were first sown.

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Turkey repeatedly complained that it was granted few advantages on its exports to the Community and that even these advantages had been eroded as a result of preferential treatment which the EEC had accorded to the export products of many developing countries. Meanwhile, due to its dependence on Western Europe for intermediary products and hi-tech equipment, Turkey's trade deficit rose sharply as it began to relax its customs tariffs on the products originating in the EEC member countries(Robins, Philip, 13). Likewise, the EEC likewise had its own reasons for complaint.

According to the EEC, Turkey's unilateral suspension of the reduction of the customs tariffs on the EEC exports in 1977 was an infringement of the terms of the Additional Protocol (Birand, 1987: 312-387). The economic disputes which bedevilled much of the transitional stage were further complicated by political problems. In the 1980s, the Community unilaterally froze its relations with Turkey when the army seized power in September 1980. Soon after the normalisation of their relations in 1986, Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in April 1987. Submitting its response in Autumn 1989, the Council of the EEC rejected the Turkish application on economic and political grounds. However this rejection, as the Council decision stated, did not preclude the possibility of Turkish accession at a future date.4 Perhaps the two single most historic steps which extended the scope and depth of Turkey-EU relations were the introduction of customs union as of January 1, 1996 and the Helsinki European Council decision of December 1999 which declared Turkey as a candidate state for membership.

The well-known liberalisation of the ...