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A brief history of Turkey’s long road to join the European Union

Published

2 years ago

May 16, 2023

A brief history of Turkey’s long road to join the European Union

Turkey’s ambition to join the European Union has gone through multiple ups and downs since the application was first submitted in 1987.

Turkey knows a thing or two about being on the doorstep of the European Union.

The country of almost 85 million people holds the unfortunate record of the longest process to join the bloc: 36 years – and counting. No other candidate state in Eastern Europe or the Western Balkans comes even close to matching Turkey’s protracted path to EU membership.

In fact, since Turkey submitted its official application on 14 April 1987 to be part of what was then the European Economic Community (EEC), 16 countries have seen their bids green-lighted, making Ankara’s omission even more glaring.

After a continued succession of ups and downs, promises and threats, it has become apparent that Turkey’s accession is a unique case of policy-making that Brussels has not quite learned how to manage.

From Atatürk to Hallstein

To understand Turkey’s EU ambitions, we must go all the way back to the days of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the revolutionary leader who resisted the country’s partition in the aftermath of World War I and forced the victorious Allies to negotiate favourable terms under the Treaty of Lausanne.

This paved the way for the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923 as a one-party parliamentary system with a president, Atatürk himself, as head of state.

Atatürk then launched an intense and rapid series of reforms to build a modern, Westernised country: in the span of a decade, the newly-formed republic saw the abolition of the Caliphate, the introduction of a Latin-script alphabet, a raft of European-inspired laws, drastic changes in dressing codes and the enactment of secularism in the constitution.

The radical transformation paid off. In 1949, Turkey was among the first countries to join the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based human rights organisation. In 1952, it became a member of NATO, the transatlantic military alliance created in direct opposition to the Soviet Union.

By then, Ankara had set its sights on the nascent project of European integration in Western Europe. In 1959, the country applied to become an associate member of the European Economic Community (EEC), a request granted four years later.

“Turkey is part of Europe,” declared Walter Hallstein, the president of the EEC Commission, while celebrating the signature of the association agreement in September 1963.

“It is an event without parallel in the history of the influence exerted by European culture and politics. I would even say that we sense in it a certain kinship with the most modern of European developments: the unification of Europe.”

But a first major roadblock was erected in the summer of 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the northern part of Cyprus in response to a coup d’état sponsored by the Greek military junta. The conflict split the island in two, a division that still looms large over Turkey’s European dreams.

A long-awaited declaration

Nevertheless, the association agreement provided Ankara with a solid foundation to gradually move forward.

In 1987, Turkey formally submitted its application to join the EEC, then made up of 12 members, including Greece. At the time, Turkey’s GDP per capita was $1,700 – a far cry from the over $16,000 in both Germany and France.

The huge economic gap, coupled with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany and persistently poor relations with Cyprus and Greece, slowed down Ankara’s bid.

During this time, Turkey was expected to carry out additional reforms to meet the so-called Copenhagen criteria, the fundamental rules that determine a country’s eligibility to join the EU. The criteria, laid down in 1993, impose high standards on democracy, the rule of law, human rights, the protection of minorities and an open market economy.

In the meantime, Brussels offered Ankara an intermediate step in the form of a customs union for the trade of goods other than agriculture, coal and steel, which became fully operational in early 1996.

It wasn’t until December 1999 when EU leaders, during a European Council in Helsinki, unanimously declared Turkey a candidate country, opening the door for Ankara to join their ranks on an equal footing.

“Turkey is a candidate State destined to join the Union on the basis of the same criteria as applied to the other candidate States,” the leaders wrote in their joint conclusions.

The declaration was not merely rhetorical: it gave Turkey access to millions of EU funds in pre-accession assistance.

The absorption capacity

The 2004 enlargement saw the EU move decisively Eastwards and welcome a total of 10 new members, many of which had been subject to the iron fist of the Soviet Union.

For Ankara, it was an awkward affair: the country had submitted its bid well before any of the newcomers, including Cyprus, and was still waiting for the accession process to kick off.

In 2005, the Council finally adopted the framework for negotiations, a nine-page document peppered with references to the rule of law, the EU’s “absorption capacity,” the importance of “good neighbourly relations” and the possible suspension of talks.

“The shared objective of the negotiations is accession. These negotiations are an open-ended process, the outcome of which cannot be guaranteed beforehand,” the document says.

“If Turkey is not in a position to assume in full all the obligations of membership, it must be ensured that Turkey is fully anchored in the European structures through the strongest possible bond.”

The framework served as the main guidelines for the European Commission, which was tasked with steering the negotiations. The talks are split into 35 chapters, a highly complex undertaking that is meant to perfectly align the candidate with all EU rules.

The chapter on science and research was the first one to be opened in 2006 and was provisionally concluded that very same year. In the decade that followed, Turkey, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, managed to open an additional 15 chapters.

But none were closed.

Total standstill

The 2000s marked a period of impressive economic growth for Turkey: its GDP per capita more than tripled, from $3,100 in 2001 to $10,615 in 2010, while services rapidly expanded thanks to sectors such as transport, tourism and finance, deepening the country’s modernisation.

Still, the evolution was not enough to overcome tensions in the Mediterranean and the growing reticence among EU leaders, some of whom began suggesting a full-time membership could be replaced by a “privileged partnership” – a big no for Ankara.

“Between accession and (special) partnership, which Turkey says it does not accept, there is a path of equilibrium that we can find,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in 2011. “The best way of getting out of what risks being a deadlock is to find a compromise.”

In response to cautionary words coming from Paris, Berlin and Vienna, Erdoğan raised the stakes and said he expected accession to be completed by 2023 to coincide with the republic’s 100th anniversary. The migration crisis of 2015-2016 gave Turkey political leverage as the country standing between the bloc and millions of Syrian and Afghan refugees.

But things went sour after the July 2016 coup d’état attempt, a critical episode that led Erdoğan to strengthen his grip on power and consolidate what critics decried as a one-man rule.

In November of that year, Members of the European Parliament approved a resolution blasting the “disproportionate repressive measures” introduced under the state of emergency and calling for a “temporary freeze” on accession talks.

The 2017 referendum to install a unitary presidential system granting the head of state vast executive powers further undermined Ankara’s application and fuelled criticism from EU officials and lawmakers, with some even questioning if Turkey could still be considered an eligible candidate according to the Copenhagen criteria.

The fast deterioration culminated in June 2018 when member states put negotiations on hold.

“The Council notes that Turkey has been moving further away from the European Union,” said the conclusions from a meeting in June 2018. “Turkey’s accession negotiations have therefore effectively come to a standstill and no further chapters can be considered for opening or closing.”

Since then, progress has been almost non-existent.

Freed from the expectation of having to meet EU standards, Erdoğan has ramped up his denunciations against the West, ordered controversial drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean and maintained active ties with Vladimir Putin despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ties with Brussels have gone so awry that Turkey, which technically speaking is still a candidate country, is now suspected of helping Russia evade EU sanctions.

The 2022 enlargement report released by the European Commission offered a sombre assessment of where things stand now.

“The Turkish government has not reversed the negative trend in relation to reform, despite its repeated commitment to EU accession,” the report reads. “The EU’s serious concerns on the continued deterioration of democracy, the rule of law, fundamental rights and the independence of the judiciary have not been addressed.”

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World

Nelly Addresses Criticism of Performance at Trump Inauguration Ball: ‘I’m Doing This Because It’s an Honor’

Published

4 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

Nelly Addresses Criticism of Performance at Trump Inauguration Ball: ‘I’m Doing This Because It’s an Honor’

Nelly is speaking out against critics who have denounced his performance at tomorrow’s Liberty Inaugural Ball, one of three official balls celebrating Donald Trump’s return to the presidency.

The St. Louis rapper addressed the appearance during an interview with Willie D Live, downplaying the political implications of the performance and stating that he’s simply honoring the moment by showing up for the event.

“I thought you was riding with me because I put on for my city and I try to bring my city up every step of the way. I did not know you was riding with me because you thought I would ride with who you voted for. I didn’t know that,” he said. “I didn’t know I had to agree with your political choices, and I thought it was the things that you do not the things that you say should be done. If you follow what I do, this shouldn’t even be an argument. He’s the president. He won. This isn’t a campaign, this isn’t an RNC. I’m not out on a political campaign.”

He continued by likening the performance to the same sense of civic duty that American military personnel feel in defending their country. “I’m not doing this for money, I’m doing this because it’s an honor. I respect the office. It doesn’t matter who is in office,” he said. “The same way that our men and women, our brothers and sisters who protect this country, have to go to war and have to put their life on the line for whoever in office. So if they can put their life on the line for whoever in office, I can damn sure perform.”

Willie D brought up criticisms that performing for the office meant appearing in support of Trump. “More than half this country voted for Trump. If you respect the process when the process works in your favor, respect the process when it doesn’t work in your favor,” responded Nelly.

Numerous representatives for the rapper did not respond to Variety‘s earlier requests for comment.

At the Liberty Inaugural Ball, Nelly will grace the stage alongside Village People, whose classic “Y.M.C.A.” became a recurring song played during Trump’s campaign rallies. Village People released a statement earlier this week about its involvement in events surrounding Trump’s swearing-in. “We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics,” the group wrote on Facebook. “Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost. Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music which is why VILLAGE PEOPLE will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump.”

While Nelly and Village People will perform at balls, Carrie Underwood, Lee Greenwood and Christopher Macchio are scheduled to perform at the inauguration itself. On Friday, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross and Soulja Boy appeared at the Crypto Ball, eliciting divisive online reactions that pointed out previous contradictory statements by some of the rappers.

Nelly also sang a different tune about Trump, telling Page Six in 2017 that he didn’t agree with his approach as commander-in-chief. “You know the thing about Donald Trump is that I liked Donald Trump, I did, I just don’t like Donald Trump as my president,” he said. “Dude is a trip. Pre-presidency, I was cool with the Donald. Loved his hotels. I’m more or less mad at him because I can’t stay at his hotel now. You done fucked that up. And I’ve been staying there for 15 years, and now you pull this. Get it together, homie.”

World

German ambassador warns Trump will 'undermine' democratic principles with 'maximum disruption' agenda: report

Published

5 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

German ambassador warns Trump will 'undermine' democratic principles with 'maximum disruption' agenda: report

Germany’s ambassador to the U.S. has warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will “undermine” democratic principles with a “maximum disruption” agenda, according to a report.

Reuters reported that it viewed a confidential briefing document signed by Ambassador Andreas Michaelis that describes the incoming Trump agenda as “a redefinition of the constitutional order – maximum concentration of power with the president at the expense of Congress and the federal states.”

“Basic democratic principles and checks and balances will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, Big Tech will be given co-governing power,” reads the document, which was dated Jan. 14.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment but did not immediately hear back.

TRUMP INAUGURATION: WHO IS EXPECTED TO ATTEND, AND WHO IS BOYCOTTING?

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, on Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Michaelis said recent actions by Trump and billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk could lead to a “redefinition of the First Amendment.”

“One is using lawsuits, threatening criminal prosecution and license revocation, the other is having algorithms manipulated and accounts blocked,” the document reads, per Reuters.

Musk supported Trump throughout the election, and was tapped by the president-elect to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency.

GERMANY ACCUSES ELON MUSK OF TRYING TO INTERFERE IN ITS NATIONAL ELECTIONS

Last month, Germany accused Musk of attempting to interfere in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections on behalf of the country’s far-right political party, German Alternative for Germany, citing recent social media posts and a weekend op-ed doubling down on his endorsement.

Meanwhile, Michaelis even claimed that Trump could force his agenda on states using broad legal options and that “even military deployment within the country for police activities would be possible in the event of declared ‘insurrection’ and ‘invasion’.”

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, however, bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement unless Congress overrides the federal law.

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Despite what Michaelis says in the reported document, the German foreign ministry has acknowledged Trump won the democratic election and said it will “work closely with the new U.S. administration in the interests of Germany and Europe.”

World

‘My children, my children’: The Gaza family killed minutes before ceasefire

Published

5 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

‘My children, my children’: The Gaza family killed minutes before ceasefire

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – The ceasefire in Gaza was supposed to start at 8.30am (06:30 GMT). The al-Qidra family had endured 15 months of Israeli attacks. They had been displaced more than once and were living in a tent. Their relatives had been among the more than 46,900 Palestinians killed by Israel.

But the al-Qidras had survived. And they wanted to go home.

Ahmed al-Qidra packed his seven children onto a donkey cart and headed to eastern Khan Younis. It was finally safe to travel – the bombing should have stopped.

But the family did not know that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas had been delayed. They did not know that, even in those additional few hours, Israeli aircraft were still flying over the skies of Gaza, ready to drop their bombs.

The explosion was loud. Ahmed’s wife Hanan heard it. She had stayed behind at a relative’s home in the centre of the city, organising their belongings, planning on joining her husband and children a few hours later.

“The blast felt like it hit my heart,” Hanan said. She instinctively knew that something had happened to her children, whom she had only just said goodbye to.

“My children, my children!” she screamed.

The cart had been hit. Hanan’s eldest son, 16-year-old Adly, was dead. So was her youngest, six-year-old Sama, the baby of the family.

Yasmin, 12, explained that a four-wheel drive was in front of the cart carrying people celebrating the ceasefire. Perhaps that was the reason the missile hit.

“I saw Sama and Adly lying on the ground, and my father bleeding and unconscious on the cart,” Yasmin said. She pulled her eight-year-old sister Aseel out before a second missile hit the spot where they had been. Eleven-year-old Mohammed also survived.

But Ahmed, Hanan’s partner in life, was pronounced dead in the hospital.

The vehicle travelling ahead of the al-Qidras’ donkey cart may have been targeted in the Israeli air attack [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

‘My children were my world’

Sitting on the edge of her injured daughter Iman’s hospital bed in Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, Hanan was still shell-shocked.

“Where was the ceasefire?” she asked. In their excitement to finally return to whatever was left of their home, the family had missed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that the Palestinian group Hamas had not sent over the names of the three Israeli captives who would be released on Sunday as part of the ceasefire deal.

They had not seen Hamas explain that there were technical reasons for the delay, and that the names would be provided, as they eventually were.

They would not know that in the three-hour delay before the ceasefire eventually began, three members of their family would be killed. They were among the 19 Palestinians killed by Israel in those last few hours, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence.

Hanan al-Qidra sits with a daughter, her other daughter lays on hospital bed — Hanan al-Qidra has to take care of her remaining children on her own after her husband Ahmed was killed in the Israeli attack in Khan Younis on January 19 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Hanan broke down in tears. She would now have to face life without her husband and without two of her children. The loss of Sama, “the last of the bunch” as she described her with the Arabic saying, was particularly hard.

“Sama was my youngest and the most spoiled. She’d get angry whenever I talked about having another child.”

Adly had been her “pillar of support”. Her children were her world.

“We endured this entire war, facing the harshest conditions of displacement and bombardment,” Hanan said. “My children dealt with hunger, a lack of food and basic necessities.”

“We survived more than a year of this war, only for them to be killed in its last minutes. How can this happen?”

A day of joy had been turned into a nightmare. The family had celebrated the end of the war the night before.

“Hasn’t the Israeli army had enough of our blood and the atrocities they committed for 15 months?” Hanan asked.

Then, she thought of her future. With her husband and two of her children ripped away from her, and with tears coming down her face, she asked: “What’s left?”