Anti-corruption will feature prominently in Turkey’s talks on EU accession. Despite claims to the contrary, the data show that corruption levels in Turkey are not radically different than those in many other accession countries. While Turkey already meets many of the requirements for negotiating and completing accession, Turkey will need to bolster its anti-corruption programme. Key elements will include increased public sector co-ordination and the design and implementation of a credible anti-corruption programme. Yet, accession should not be the main motivator for such a programme. Anti-corruption will be necessary to strengthen fragile government institutions and forestall the radicalization of the political process...