EU, Turkey and Neighborhood Policies, Fall 2009

Saturday, December 5, 2009 | Download PDF in English

Turkey has been pursuing a new foreign policy which aims to transform Turkey into a regional soft power. Though the increased economic links and momentum in overcoming deadlocks between Turkey and its neighbors has received praise, criticism and questions have also been raised. Cooperation between the EU (the ENP) and Turkey in the overlapping neighborhood would allow Turkey to circumvent the criticism and allow the EU to have a more effective neighborhood policy. The EU has advantages such as conditionality that Turkey does not, while Turkey has, among other things, cultural proximity that aides the establishment of trust. The EU and Turkey can create synergy with their complementary strengths. This however is prevented by both suspended chapters and negative rhetoric coming from the political leadership of some EU countries, and the fact that Turkey is not prioritizing EU accession as in 2000-2005.

CONTRIBUTOR

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı is the director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ (GMF) Ankara office.

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