Abstract
This chapter argues that the European Union’s (EU’s) human rights conditionality policy vis-à-vis candidate countries works well as long as full-membership perspective is kept in sight even though this is going to be achieved over a long period of time and obviously with much difficulty. As Turkey exemplifies this perfectly, this chapter aims to explain and evaluate the EU-Turkey relations after 1999. Accordingly, it asks how the relations have evolved after Turkey was given the prospect of full membership; how such prospect has affected the government to carry out the democratisation reforms necessary to fulfil the political criteria; and how the Cyprus question affected Turkey’s accession process. Finally, it discusses whether or not the refugee crisis might introduce a new motivation into EU-Turkey relations.
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Notes
- 1.
As part of his mediation efforts for the settlement of the Cyprus question, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan prepared a plan, which proposed a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation in Cyprus (for the text of the Plan, see HR-Net 2004). The Plan was put to referenda on 24 April 2004.
- 2.
- 3.
On 29 July 2005, the Additional Protocol extending the Ankara Agreement to the new member states was concluded by an exchange of letters between Turkey, the EU Presidency and the Commission. In the official declaration constituting an integral part of its letter, Ankara stated that by signing the Additional Protocol and expanding it to all member states, it did not recognise the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ (MFA 2005). Consequently, Turkey has not permitted the ships and airplanes of the RC to dock in Turkish ports (for further details, see Buhari-Gülmez 2012; Ker-Lindsay 2007; Loizides 2002; Nugent 2000).
- 4.
See, for instance, Soysal (19 February 2009).
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Ata, F.K. (2017). EU-Turkey Relations (1999–2016): Conditionality at Work?. In: Gözen Ercan, P. (eds) Turkish Foreign Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50451-3_6
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