Conclusions Prospects of Turkish Political Culture

Abstract

The study of EU-sponsored political reform in Turkey in the previous chapters made it clear that path dependence theory could help explain the process of liberalization of Turkish political culture.¹ Turkey’s approach to the European Union required a series of political decisions, which entailed, among other things, a reconsideration of state-civil society relations, the civilianization of politics, and a new approach to secularism and national identity. As Turkey was making steps toward convergence with the Copenhagen Criteria, it became increasingly difficult to change direction and relapse to old policies and practices. The Helsinki European Council decision in December 1999 became a landmark event. Giving Turkey the status of an EU candidate state had a critical and enduring facilitating impact on the process of political liberalization.² The increasingly realistic prospect of EU membership gave Turkey a political vision, while the Copenhagen Criteria became the yardstick against which any reform steps were measured. The increasing commitment of the 1999–2002 coalition government to Turkey’s EU accession process meant that it was willing to undertake daring reform measures to meet this target. The more the government invested political capital in the prospect of EU membership, the more difficult it became to reverse the process of political liberalization.