Turkey is currently in the process of negotiating its admission to the European Union, but this is old news as the country has been trying to become an EU member state since October of 2005. Prior to this application, Turkey had also attempted to gain membership in the EEC (European Economic Community), the forerunner of today’s European Union, in 1987.
It is now approaching four decades since Turkey expressed its desire to partake fully in Europe but all attempts to do so have failed for various reasons. The reasons for failure to achieve the desired European Union status can be traced back to Turkey’s economic, political, ethnic and religious history.
Back in Time
To understand Turkey’s failure to become an EU member state, it is necessary to go back in time. In 1950, Turkey was one of the earliest members of the Council of Europe and, nine years later, also became an associate member of the EEC to acquire full membership in the near future. In 1963, Turkey and the EEC signed the Ankara Agreement, the aim of which was to create a stronger association and customs union between the two bodies. The Ankara Agreement was supplemented in 1970 with the “Additional Protocol”, which set out a timetable for removing tariffs and quotas on all goods being traded between the EEC and Turkey.
The Ankara Agreement was successful in terms of trade, and in early April 1987, Turkey submitted an application to become a full member of the EEC. It took over two years for the European Commission to confirm Turkey’s application, but it was decided that several issues were preventing the country’s acceptance, including Turkey’s:
- Political climate
- Economic situation
- Poor relationship with Greece
- Conflict with Cyprus
For these reasons, the European Commission decided in 1989 that conditions were not favourable for Turkey’s accession to EU membership, a position that was reaffirmed in 1997 at the Luxembourg European Council. Still hopeful of EU acceptance, Turkey pushed ahead with efforts to integrate with the European Union more closely and agreed to a customs union in 1995. The country’s desire for EU membership received a boost following the humanitarian efforts made by Turkey following the disastrous series of earthquakes that struck both Turkey and Greece in the summer of 1999. Hope was raised even further at a summit meeting of the European Council in Helsinki when Turkey was recognised as a candidate of equal standing with other aspiring candidates. Greece withdrew its objection to Turkey’s accession to the EU.
Promising Start
Turkey’s admission to the European Union got off to a promising start in 2002 when the European Council declared that negotiations with Turkey would commence “without delay” if the council found that the country fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria for membership. Turkish aspirations were further bolstered when both the French President and German Chancellor of the day expressed support for Turkey’s admittance to the EU to be put on the agenda for the European Commission summit meeting of 2004.
It was agreed at the European Commission summit that formal negotiations should commence sometime in 2005, albeit with a number of preventive measures to be applied. Germany and Austria brought up the possibility that Turkey should be given a “privileged partnership”, which was not the same as a full membership, but this motion was defeated, and negotiations for full membership were scheduled to commence in October of 2005.
Stumbling Blocks
From the outset, the accession process has hit a number of stumbling blocks caused by both external and domestic issues. France and Austria decided to have a referendum on the acceptability of Turkey’s admission to the EU while political strife between Turkey and Cyprus remained an ongoing problem. On top of this many of the required political, legal and economic reforms required of Turkey were either not implemented or very slow to come into being.
This led to frustration and anger from many EU member states and all negotiations came to a complete stop in December of 2006. In 2007 Turkish representatives stated the country was aiming for full compliance with the terms of accession and European Union law by the year 2013 but this was deemed an impossibility by EU officials who believed it would take until 2021 at the earliest.
Terms and Conditions
As part of the accession process, a candidate country must meet certain conditions for entry. This is known as the Acquis and currently has 35 conditions, called chapters, that must be satisfied before EU membership can be granted. The 35 chapters of the Acquis require changes (where necessary) to a country’s legal, political, institutional and administrative infrastructure in order to comply with the existing EU rules and regulations in these areas.
The 35 chapters of the Acquis are:
- Free movement of products and goods
- Freedom of movement for work force
- Right to establish and provide services
- Free movement of capital across the EU
- Harmonisation of company law
- Harmonisation of intellectual property legislation
- Competition policy
- Operation of financial services
- Digital information and media
- Agricultural policy and rural development
- Food safety
- Fishing legislation
- Transport policies
- Energy supply
- Taxation matters
- Monetary and economic policy
- Statistics
- Employment and social policy
- Industry and enterprise policies
- Trans-European network
- Regional policies
- Judiciary and human rights
- Freedom, justice and security
- Research and science
- Culture and education
- Environmental issues
- Consumer protection and public health
- Customs agreements
- External relations
- National security, foreign and defence policy
- Financial oversight
- Finance and budgetary policies
- Institutions
- Other matters
Each of the 35 chapters are reviewed on an ongoing basis and progress constantly evaluated until all issues are resolved and the chapter closed. Because of Turkey’s lack of progress in completing the required chapters, negotiations ground to a halt in 2006 with the EU freezing talks on eight chapters. This was followed by another setback in 2009 when Cyprus blocked another six chapters due to strained relations between Cyprus and Greece.
Because of these blocks, not a single chapter has been opened since 2010, and the only chapters that Turkish authorities can commence working on are the most difficult of the Acquis. By 2013, frustration had set in as a number of chapters could not be opened, and those that could depend upon the completion of the chapters could not be worked on. This frustration with the application process led Turkish minister Burak Erdenir to state it was impossible to comply with the Acquis and imply it was an orchestrated attempt to thwart Turkish accession to the European Union.
Recent Developments
Up to the middle of 2016, Turkey had only opened 16 of the required 35 chapters, with just one closed. Since that time, the accession process has come to a halt, but further obstacles have been added in recent years. Turkey has been accused of human rights violations as well as criticised for deficiencies in the Turkish legal system. Additionally, the strong position of the Turkish presidency has been construed as being in violation of the criteria required for EU membership.
As recently as 2019, a committee of the European parliament voted for the suspension of accession negotiations, and the process is now at a standstill. As things stand, no chapters of the Acquis can be opened, worked on or closed, and without this vital component of the accession process, Turkey has no route into the EU. In January 2023, the Turkish main opposition party reaffirmed its intent to pursue EU membership if elected, but this failed to occur.
In or Out?
Opinion is divided in the EU parliament as to whether Turkey becoming an EU member state is a positive or negative outcome. Those against cite the country’s poor human rights record and argue that the addition of Turkey would threaten the formation of a European superstate advocated by some EU officials. Proponents of Turkish accession believe the country’s membership will increase European security and act as a stabilising factor between Europe and the East.
There is no doubt that admission to the EU would be of tremendous financial benefit to Turkey. Tourism, for one, would benefit greatly because, as an EU member state, travel between the existing EU and Turkey would be easier without the requirement for a Schengen Visa or ETIAS approval for tourists or those visiting for a short period of time.
While Turkey still desires membership of the European Union there remain significant barriers to overcome and the saga that began almost four decades ago looks set to run for a considerable time yet!