Surviving a Coma? Türkiye-EU Relations in Times of Crises (2005–2022)

Abstract

Türkiye’s EU membership negotiation process has been comatose since its early years. Now, in 2022, the seventeenth year of negotiations, the final destination of Türkiye’s EU journey is still far from certain. And recent debates on Türkiye–EU relations focus on whether Türkiye should be an EU member rather than why or when. There has been increasing criticism directed at each other and waning interest in Türkiye’s EU integration while the EU and Türkiye have faced major crises in the last two decades. This article aims to analyse key factors and issues influencing Türkiye’s EU accession process on the road to the current stalemate since the beginning of accession negotiations in 2005: (a) the Europeanisation of the Cyprus issue (the role of EU Member States and conditionality), (b) deEuropeanisation in Türkiye (the role of conditionality), (c) the return of geopolitics (the role of security considerations and contextual changes), and (d) the July 15th failed coup attempt (the role of conditionality and contextual changes). It finally explores the EU’s commitment to enlargement and debates on its alternatives (the role of Member States, and EU institutions and narratives).