RELEVANT ACTORS AND INTERDEPENDENCES IN REGIONAL SECURITY: EU-TURKEY RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

The EU-Turkey relationship finds its basis in the EU Enlargement Policy, which is one of the organisation’s most important foreign policy instruments. Thus, the integration of a relevant actor such as Turkey gains important regional connotations, with one of Turkey’s gains in this relationship being the access to the EU single market. Although the beginning of the relationship seemed promising, its subsequent development is governed by countless divergences and tensions, the result reached so far being eloquent: of the 35 chapters negotiated for accession only 16 were opened, of which only one was provisionally closed. This article aims to highlight the relationship between the two actors, with the effort being directed towards analysing Turkey’s EU accession process. Through a critical analysis of the literature, statements and official documents devoted to the subject, the article provides an overview of the accession process and presents some ideas on the advantages that both actors can gain from this relationship. Subsequently, some opinions are issued on the evolution of the EUTurkey relationship, concluding that in the near future we cannot expect Turkey to fully integrate into the EU.