Gaining membership to the European Union (EU) has been a frustrating process for Turkey. The Near

Since 1950 European Union (EU) was created it has promoted peace, prosperity and values among the member nations and its neighbouring countries. EU’s influential tools, has helped transform many European states into functioning democracies and prosperous countries. EU’s membership has grown from 6 to 28 countries (Enlargement, 2014), satisfying a historic vow to integrate the continent bringing in most states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by peaceful ideals.EU has anticipated the enlargement as an extraordinary opportunity to endorse political strength and economic success in Europe. EU’s extension policy is open to any European state that fulfils the EU’s political and financial criteria for membership; still the political process of inclusion of new state requires a unanimous agreement from all the existing 28 member states. Europe is considered to be more flourishing and safer place due to the promotion of democracy, anti-corruption policy and the single market policy.

There are 2 sides of Turkey an Asian side (called Anatolia) and a European side (called Eastern Thrace).

Erdogan’s past raises questions as to how interested he really is in a secular Turkey. Raised in prayer schools as a devout Muslim, his political career started as the protégé to Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of the radical Refah party who is famous for his approval of anti-Islamic restrictions that limited Islamic media, dress, and schools. Erdogan served as chairman of this Refah party until he became mayor of Istanbul in 1994. As mayor, he condemned contraceptives, ordered the renovations of mosques, and banned alcohol in public places. His fervor eventually got him in trouble when he was convicted of using religion to foment disorder and sentenced to

In 2005, Ankara undertook important reforms to the country’s migration and asylum laws and regulations, which strengthened Turkey’s role as the migration gatekeeper of Europe. In exchange, the EU agreed to speed up the disbursement of a previously allocated €3 billion in aid to Turkey and to grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens, if Turkey meets the requirements outlined in the EU’s visa liberalization roadmap.

This article reviews Albania’s association with the EU from the 1990’s to 2000. Argument is that Albania is one of the most under-developed countries in Europe and will face

Yet, the economic growth of the region is slow in comparison to the established member states. In addition, while established EU members are some of the least-corrupt in the world and are established liberal democracies, some of the new-comers bring in corruption which further slows economic growth and democratization in the region. Undoubtedly, slower economic and pro-democratic development in the Eastern Block prominently lowers the prospects for EU membership. In addition, the popular attitudes in the established states that oppose accession of new Eastern European members appears to also be shaped by these perceptions.

The possible accession of Turkey to the European Union is at the center of the controversy surrounding the EU 's enlargement. Given the disparate histories of the EU member states, Turkey 's own complex and battle-scarred history, and nationalistic considerations, the question of whether Turkey will ultimately be accepted as an EU member, with full rights and privileges, is one to which there are few clear-cut answers.

With the internal changes underway, 1993 saw the EU ready to start accession negotiations with the Central and Eastern European Countries (referred from now on as CEEC). The Copenhagen European Council summit in June 1993 stated that ‘the associated countries in central and eastern Europe that so desire shall become members of the European Union.’ (Conclusion of the European Council, 1993). This was a welcomed affirmation for the candidates, but the ‘’long and complicated road to membership’’ (Van Den Broek, 1998; Gower, 1999.; Phinnemore, 1999.) was far from over.

From the filing of its EU membership application in 1987, Turkey has long attempted to become a member of the European Union. As of 2014, Turkey is still a candidate country for membership and its position doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. This paper will outline the various challenges Turkey faced in the past and its relation to current challenges facing her ascension to membership in the European Union. This will take the form of establishing Turkey’s position relative to other European nations from the end of the Second World War and how Turkey is progressing vis-à-vis

Turkey has been inhabited for thousands of years, since the Paleolithic Age. From its extremely detailed and complicated history to its rich ethnic heritage, Turkey is a culturally diverse land where east meets west. Turkey is located at the crossroads of both Asia and Europe, which makes it politically and economically significant to both eastern and western regions. Historically, Turkey was part of the cradle of civilization, when it was known as “Asia Minor”. When it was colonized by the Ancient Greeks, it was introduced into western European influence, along with the establishment of the Byzantine Empire (Now, present day Istanbul) by the Romans. The capture of the city by the Ottoman Empire, however, brought it back to Eastern control. Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire began slowly declining for several centuries, finally bringing the fall of the empire and thus establishing the Turkish Republic in 1923. This modern nation-state was forged by the reforms of Mustafa Kemal. Kemal sought to impose a secular— rather, laïcité, democratic system, in a predominantly Islamic nation; this began Turkey’s course toward progression and modernization. “My people are going to learn the principles of democracy the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will, every man can follow his own conscience provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him act against the liberty of his fellow men.”.

Recently, the World Bank characterized the EU as a “Convergence machine” based on successive enlargements that leads to significant upward convergence in wealth between poorer and richer member states (Gill, Raiser 2012). We should therefore not be astonished that EU membership remains attractive to nearly all non-EU states within Europe. On the one hand, it is difficult to deny that EU enlargement promises benefits for everyone involved. For example, it brings most notably economic benefits but also political and social benefits. On the other hand, the EU’s ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ approach unnecessarily chases member states (hereinafter PMs) with accepting either the costs of being an outsider, or the costs of modifying their norms and values to fulfill with the EU. Of course, such external pressure is not regretful in all cases such as when minorities are being mistreated. However, PMs

This alliance is likely Temporary as Turkey and Iran have been longtime rivals in the region.

The heated domestic debates in established member states on equal membership rights of poorer new members and applicants from the Balkans exposes gaps in social consensus about new member accession in the EU. Broadly, social consensus in decision-making implies that minority and majority opinions are taken into account. The alienation of a minority group(s) in decision-making is often utilized by political rivals to spark a political backlash that can

During the peak of the Arab Spring, Turkey realized this was a breaking point. Increased amounts of threats were taking place, bombings near the border became more frequent, Turkish F-4 jet was shot down by Syria. It was apparent to Turkey that no bilateral agreement was going to take place. Moreover, Turkey attempted on several occasions to warn the United States, European Union and other international actors about the severity of the Syrian crisis but they failed in gaining support, primarily left alone to handle its National Security crisis. Turkey previously focusing all its efforts towards the US/EU, and slowly oriented itself by adopting an increased Eastern/Islamism tone after feeling that no

Relations between Turkey and European integration institutions began with Turkey’s application for associate membership in the European Economic Community(EEC) in 1959. Turkey applied for full membership in the EEC in 1987 but did not gain candidate status until 1999. Since 1999, relations between Turkey and the European Union (EU) have gained momentum, and Turkey’s EU accession negotiations began in 2005. Since that time, discussions about the implications of Turkey’s prospective EU membership have become more serious and extensive in both Turkey and the EU.the potential advantages and drawbacks of Turkey’s EU membership for both Turkey and the EU. It considers economic, social, political, and security factors. When the enlargement