Turkey–EU Relations: Power, Politics and the Future

This book attempts to introduce the untold story of the positive aspects of EU–Turkey relations, from historical backgrounds to international impacts, and from farming to cooperation against international terrorism. Turkey–EU relations are sometimes easy to observe, but at the same time very complicated and difficult to understand. On the one hand, the EU does not want to lose its long term ally's interest in joining the Union, but on the other hand it does not want a vast Muslim country with its huge young population to change the EU's already struggling dynamics. The New Turkey, on the other side, does not want to let itself down by trying to join the Union at any cost. It wants to join the Union but stay as a Democratic Muslim Turkey rather than a Democratic European Turkey. Both in Turkey and in the EU though, members of the public have very mixed feelings towards this relationship, as their perceptions are shaped by the ideological interpretations of their leaders. For example, people who travel to Turkey or Europe have a completely different understanding of the relations than the ones who only hear it from politicians. Therefore mutual positive aspects are either underestimated or completely missed. This book aims to fill some of those missed gaps.