Turkey’s motive to become European Union member under prime minister Recep Tayyip erdogan (2010-2013)
TURKEY’S
MOTIVE TO BECOME EUROPEAN
UNION MEMBER UNDER PRIME MINISTER RECEP
TAYYIP ERDOGAN (2010-2013)
An Undergraduate Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in International Relations
By:
FirdaElmiduri
1110114000008
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH JAKARTA
2014
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DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
This thesis entitled:
T
URKEY‟S MOTIVE TO BECOME EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER
UNDER PRIME MINISTER RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN (2010-2013)
1. Is my original work proposed to fulfill one of requirements to obtain undergraduate degree in State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
2. All sources used in this thesis I have attached according to the rules applied in State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
3. If this thesis is afterwards found not as my original work or recognized as plagiarize
from other‟s work, I agree to take all the responsibilities and penalties applied by State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
Jakarta, 18 November 2014
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ABSTRACT
This thesis elaborates the reasons behind Turkey's effort to keep pursuing an official status of European member. The Turkey‟s persistence in this accession is questionable because basically the accession process run by Turkey to join the EU is the longest process ever felt by the candidate countries. In addition, Turkey has earned much progress in the economic and political field since Turkey has been led by PM Erdogan and AKP party. By that condition, Turkey's name is often discussed by the world due to its economic success. In the Contrary, in 2010-2013 when the Turkish economy was inflating rapidly, the European Union was in crisis, but the Turkish government did not retreat from this accession process.
This thesis aims to analyze what areactually the motives of Turkey's foreign policy which is still maintaining the accession amid the unfavorable condition of European Union. This analysis uses the Foreign Policy theory that will identify the internal and external factors that affect Turkish foreign policy-making. After knowing the factors behind the foreign policy, the thesis will identify the motives behind that Turkey's policy by using the concept of national interest.
In addition to analyze the case mentioned above, this thesis will also elaborate how Turkey startedits application to become an official member of the European Union. Other things such as Turkey‟s efforts in the pursuit of his desire before and after the reign of Prime Minister Erdogan and also how the EU responses so far to Turkey for its application will also be presented.
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PREFACE
Alhamdulillahirabbil‟alamin. Praise be to Allah, the creator of mankind with their superiorities and shortage. Because of His will that the author finally could complete this thesis with all experiences the author has been through. It had been difficult years to get to this place. Shalawat and Salaam to His messenger prophet Muhammad PBUH who has thought his people about everything in this world. Peace be upon him.
It is impossible to state all persons that have contributed to the progress and the development of the author as a student of International Relations at State Islamic University SyarifHidayatullah Jakarta. However, there are four eminent figures which influence her intellectual experience during the making of her thesis. First is Mr. A. FuadFananias her thesis advisor who shares his wisdom, patient and guidance towards the author to finish this thesis. His criticism, advices and overall contributions to her thesis have helped her greatly. Second is Mrs. Debby Affianty, M.Si as her former thesis advisorwho gives main idea to start her thesis. Furthermore, Mr. Ahmad Alfajri as an enlightement lecture who guided the author to find the title and to let her know how to start the best writing.
The author would also thank toMrs. Debby Affiantyas the head of department of International Relations, Mr. Agus Nilmada as the secretary of department of International Relations, all lecturers that have taught her in this university, and all staff in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of State Islamic University SyarifHidayatullah Jakarta.
The author also wants to say thanks to her parent, a mother and father, Setianingsih and Rafiudin,who have never stopped loving, encouraging and teaching their children and also paying all the study needs during her study. And the special thanks will also be addressed to my lovely husband, Mr Hasan Basri and my baby that still stays in stomach who always accompanied and helped her to find the inspiration during her writing. There is nothing can ever replace their love. To my dearest brothers and sisters Ibnu Fajar, Annisa Ulfa, and Sultan Rafi, my dearest grandparents Fatimah who have always give supports and spirits to finish this research. To my mother and father in law, Hj. Faridah and H. Hasibin, and also to my sisters and brothers in law thank you for all your pray and support to finish this writing.
The author will also thank to her great teacher in International Institute Darussunnah for Hadis Science K.H. Ali Mustafa Ya'qub and Hj. Annisa Ulfah who have given me very
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much advices and knowladges particularly about Hadis. And thanks also to my lecturers in Darussunnah who teach me every day.
My special thanks to “International Relations (International Class, 2010 Batch)”: Maryam, Gandis, Titi, Muti, Mutiara, Natasha, Takdir, Fikri, Farhan, Nadia, Resti, Febi, and all of you. Having classmates like you guys are awesome experience. Thank you for your shower of prays and supports. We are family, remember. The author also thanks to her senior and junior IRs International family from 2007-2011 who has made this campus environment special and unforgetable. In addition, I want to also say thank you very much for my mates in Darussunnah "Fushilat" and also the juniors and seniors of us, thank you for being my friends and thanks for your prays.
Last, I dedicate this thesis as reward for my efforts in facing the challenges for the last one year.
Ciputat, 18 November 2014
FirdaElmiduri
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LIST OF ABBREVATION
EC European Community
EU European Union
WSJ Wall Street Journal
GDP Gross Domestic Product
AKP Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi
JDP Justice and Development Party
SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organizaton
ECSC European Coal and Steel Community
EEC European Economic Community
EAEC European atomic Energy Community
ECU Educators Credit Union
NPAA National Programmes for the Adoption of the Acquis
FDI Foreign Direct Investment
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CONTENTS
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY………i
THESIS ADVISORRECOMMENDATION LETTER………ii
PANEL OF EXAMINERAPPROVAL SHEET………...iii
ABSTRACT………..iv
PREFACE ... v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ... vii
CONTENTS... viii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background...1
B. Research Question...8
C. Objectives And Benefits Of Research...8
D. Literature Review...9
E. Theoretical Framework...11
1. Foreign Policy ...12
2. National Interest...13
F. Research Method...15
G. Research Outline...17
CHAPTER II EUROPEAN UNION AND TURKISH EFFORT TO BECOME EU MEMBER BEFORE PM ERDOGAN ERA A. Organization of European Integration: European Union 1. Background and Its Enlargement……….19
2. The Provision to Become European Union Permanent Member……….20
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B. The Turkish Approach for EU Membership Before PM Erdogan Leadership
1.Turkish Application for European Union………23
2.Another Effort of Turkey to Gain the Membership Status..26 3.Turkish Motives Behind Its Application……….………….28
a. Economy……….………29
b. Politics……….………...30
4.European Union‟s Response Toward Turkish Application for
EU Membership Status Before PM Erdogan Era………...31
CHAPTER III TURKISH EFFORT FOR EU MEMBERSHIP IN PM ERDOGAN ERA
A. The Success of Turkey under PM Erdogan………..36
1. Economy………...…………37
2. Politics………...40
B. The Current Turkish Approach for EU membership………….40 C. The European Union‟s Response toward Turkish Accession
under PM Erdogan Leadership……….53
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY AND ITS MOTIVES TO BECOME EU MEMBER STATE
A. The Determinant Factors Of Foreign Policy Of Turkey In Maintaining Its Accession In EU(2010-2013)………..60
1. External Factors...62 1) Nature of The World Economy...62
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2) World Opinion...66
3) Structure of The System...68
2. Domestic Factors...72
1) National Atributes...72
2) Public Opinion...76
3) Bureaucracy...78
B. The Turkey‟s Motives behind Its Foreign Policy...81
1. Economic Purposes……….……….76
2. Stability of Domestic Politics……….……..85
3. European Status……….…...86
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION……….….88
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Turkey, a secular state majored by Muslim pupulation, is located between the continent of Asia and Europe. This country insists to become an official European Union (EU) member state despite its territory in Europe is only about 3%.1 To pursue the permanent membership of EU, Turkey needs to reform its economic and political system and they also have to fulfill all requirements needed that were set by EU.
Currently, Turkey has many significant progress in various aspects. Starting with political system, Turkish democratic system runs better with the current government led by Prime Minister (PM) Recep Tayyip Erdogan than with the previous government.2 In order to fulfill the requirements for being EU member, Turkey has implemented the "Harmonization Package", a package of law to fulfill security needs for the people.3 In addition, the role of women in contemporary Turkey is defined by an ongoing gender equality struggle. The quota of women representatives in the government and in the public sector increased and they were allowed to take part in political and economic life side by
1 Raluca Bughea, Turkey Like A Candidate Of European Union, (Romanian Economic and Business Review-
vol.2, No. 1, 2007), p: 3
2
Republika, Pakar Barat: Turki Contoh Ideal bagi Dunia Islam, 12/5/2002, [database online]available from http://www.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/islam-mancanegara/12/05/02/m3e7yp-pakar-barat-turki-contoh-ideal-bagi-dunia-islam, 12/12/2013
3Anonym “Political Reforms in Turkey, Republic of Turkey” E-Journal of Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
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side with men.4 Recently, in 8th of October 2013 Turkey has stopped the prohibition of wearing the headscarf for women in public institutions.5 This was a kind of effort of the government to improve democracy in their country. Turkey can be regarded as the only Muslim majority country in the region that adopt democratic system well as it had the longest and closest contact with the West. The Turkish experiment in parliamentary democracy has been going on for a century and a quarter, much longer than in any other country in the Islamic world.6 By this reason Turkey can be a model for other Muslim countries to develope democracy in their countries.
The economic progress under Erdogan should also be recognized. Turkish economy grew by 8,8 percent in 2011 and 2,2 percent in 2012, and the inflation rate is less than two digits.7 Trade with European countries, Asia, and the Middle East continues to have a surplus. During the past 10 years, GDP grew by 5.1 percent on average and public debt also declined from 59 (2004) to 36 percent (2013).8 Erdogan has been able to conjure Turkey as a new "Tiger Economies" of Europe. In addition, Turkey was accepted as a member of the G-20. They grew into the greatest economic power by the world ranked of 17th in terms of economic GDP.9
4Anonym, 78 women representatives in the new turkish parliament, (online database) accessed from
http://www.nationalturk.com/en/78-women-representatives-in-the-new-turkish-parliament-turkey-12381, 5/1/2014
5 Damanhuri Zuhri, Turki Cabut Larangan Hijab, 10 October, 2013. [online database], available from:
http://www.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/islam-mancanegara/13/10/10/mugepp-turki-cabut-larangan-jilbab, 5/1/2014
6 Bernard Lewis, "Why Turkey Is The Only Muslim Democracy", Middle East Quarterly, vol:1, no:1, 1994, p:
41-49, accessed from http://www.meforum.org/216/why-turkey-is-the-only-muslim-democracy, 6/12/2014
7 Dani Mohammad,
Ekonomi Turki pada 2012 Tumbuh 2,2%, 1 April 2013. [online database],
http://ekbis.sindonews.com/read/2013/04/01/35/733316/ekonomi-turki-pada-2012-tumbuh-2-2, 12/1/2014
8 Alessandro Magnoli Bocchi & Mert Yildiz, Understanding Turkey: A Maturing Economy, Despite Declining
Growth, 2/7/2014, accessed from http://www.economonitor.com/blog/2014/07/understanding-turkey-a-maturing-economy-despite-declining-growth/#sthash.B6lkPrFL.dpuf, 6/12/2014
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The strategic position of Turkey led him to be one of the most influential actors between the Western and Middle East countries. When Turkey was under President Kemal Ataturk, Turkey was closer to Europe rather than to the Middle East. Turkey has been able to establish a close relationship with the Western Countries such as the United States of America, and Turkey has even become a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1952.10 In contrast, Turkey under Erdogan began to approach the Middle East to build relationship and to participate in handling the problems in the region for example by being mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.11 In addition, Turkey's cooperation with several countries in the region such as Iran, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and other Middle East countries has also been developed, particularly in the economic field such as integrating economic in free trade zone.12 The proximity and influence of Turkey in the Mid-East, U.S., and other Western countries including the EU certainly make Turkey a bridge to connect the Western with the Middle East. It could actually be beneficial for Western countries to access their interests in the Middle East and it could have given Turkey big opportunity to be permanent member of European Union, but unfortunatelly the proposal of Turkey to be an EU member has not been approved by several EU member states and it prevents Turkey to get his willing.
The Turkey's desire to be part of EU was affected by the revolution that made by Kemal Ataturk in 1928. He made the Turkey as the Republic of the
http://beritapks.com/erdogan-dan-neo-ottomanisme/, 13/1/2014
10 Nato Member Countries, (online database), available from:
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/nato_countries.htm, 27 of March, 2014
11Anonym, “Turkey and The Palestinian Conflict”, Todays Zaman, 19/1/2009, [online article], available from:
http://www.todayszaman.com/todays-think-tanks_turkey-and-the-palestinian-question_164614.html, accessed at 23/12/2014
12Fawaz A Gerges, The Obama approach to the Middle East: the end of America‟s moment?, (Blackwell
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Secular State with him as president. This revolution has changed the face of Turkey from the state of the caliphate into the secular state by adapting and modifying the values of Turkish society to be similar with the values of European society. By this reason, Turkey believe that they deserve to be European Union member states.13
The effort for being full member of EU was started with volunteering to join the European Community in 1959, but unfortunately that desire has not materialized, only in 1963 the memorandum of understanding of cooperation between Ankara and the EU was signed in the field of customs duty that is expected to pave the way for being permanent membership of Turkey in that institution of European countries.14 Then in 1987 Turkey applied to become a full member of the European Union. This petition is received, characterized by the formation of custom union in 1995 between the Council of the Association of the European Union with Turkey. In 1997, Turkey has been recognized as eligible state to be a candidate of member state and in 1999 Turkey officially announced by the European Commission as one of the candidate member states.15
Many reasons were expressed by the European Union as a form of postpontment for Turkish accession. Among those reasons of slow pace of Turkey's EU accession were Turkey's population size, relative poverty, Muslim population, Anti-Turkish stereotypes, limits on democracy, human right issues,
13 Ade Solihat, Kemalisme, Budaya dan Negara Turki, (online journal) accessed from
http://www.fib.ui.ac.id/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:kemalisme-budaya-dan-negara-turki&catid=39:artikel-ilmiah&Itemid=122&lang=in-ID, 13.2.2014
14
Anonym, Keanggotaan Turki di Uni Eropa, Impian atau Kenyataan?, 18 February, 2013. http://indonesian.irib.ir/hidden-17/-/asset_publisher/Pfp0/content/id/5341970, 13.2.2014
15Euractive, EU-Turkey relations, 14 November 2005.
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the Armenian question, the Kurdish question, the Cyprus question, the direct conflict with Greece and the structure of the economy.16 The barrage of EU's
rejection through Turkey‟s membership did not necessarily make Turkey altering
its intention to be a member of EU. As has been stated by Prime Minister Erdogan in Berlin as part of an official visit in October 2012; Turkey will not abandon its main goal to get the EU membership.17
By seeing the Turkey‟s condition in the last 14 years, when Turkey‟s
government was dominated by AKP Party with Erdogan as Prime Minister, Turkey has been seen as quite powerful state in term of economy with big influence in International Relation. While about the Turkish relation with the Greek in the current day, Turkey has made some effort to recover the relations in recent years, one of them is by the dialogue. Over the last decade, Turkey-Greek relation have transformed dramatically.18 This was actually one of Turkey's
implementation of “Zero-Problems-With-Neighbors” Foreign Policy.19 All those restorations are Turkey's effort to pursue the European Union membership status but unfortunately there has not been an obvious and final answer from EU Commission for Turkish accession.
16Barry Rubin,
Turkey and the European Union: Domestic Politics, Economic Integration and International Dynamics, (Frank Cass and Comoany Limited, Great Britain, 2003), p: 2
17Muzaffer Vatansever, Turkish-Greek relations: One step forward, two steps back, 5th of August, 2011,
available from http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=turkish-greek-relations-one-step-forward-two-steps-back-2011-05-01, 13.2.2014
18Harian Kompas, Erdogan Bertemu Karolos Papoulias, 14/5/2010, accessed from:
http://internasional.kompas.com/read/2010/05/14/22364957/Erdogan.Bertemu.Karolos.Papoulias, 6/12/2014
19Muzaffer Vatansever, Turkish-Greek relations: One step forward, two steps back, 5.8.2011, available from:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=turkish-greek-relations-one-step-forward-two-steps-back-2011-05-01, 2/2/2014
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Turkey still stands in its position to earn the EU membership status even though Europe was in financial crisis in early 2010.20 Generally in 2011, the economy of Euro area grew slower at 1.2 percent. Economic slowdown occurred in almost all European countries, as the result; the British was louder calling for the UK to out from the EU today, and in addition, there were 56 % of the British people wanted their country out from the EU.21
In this hard situation of EU economic crisis, Turkey was still pursuing the membership status yet its economy was moving forward. This is an interesting point as the reason why this title has been taken. Turkey has been running in his way to be developed countries since Turkey was led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Prime Minister, but the most significant progress of Turkey
can be seen during Erdogan‟s leadership in 2010-2013. It was shown by an accurate data about Turkish significant economic progress in 2010 and 2011 as written above, and during these four years, Turkey has been an influential actor in the world because of its strategic position between the West and the East. Turkey right now has been being an active actor in international conflict as the mediator between the dispute countries such as Palestine-Israel, Iran and the Western
countries related to Iran‟s nuclear program, Suriah-Israel, and etc. For this great role, Turkey was invited by China and Russia to join Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2013, pact of military defense built by Russia and China
20Macroeconomic dashboard FEB UGM,
Krisis Ekonomi Eropa, 2014, [online database], available from:
http://macroeconomicdashboard.com/index.php/id/isu-terkini/99-krisis-ekonomi-eropa-terus-berlanjut, accessed at 3/9/2014
21IRIB, Krisis Ekonomi di Eropa Menggurita, Rakyat Inggris Merana, 13 December 2012. Available from:
http://indonesian.irib.ir/fokus/-/asset_publisher/v5Xe/content/krisis-ekonomi-di-eropa-menggurita-rakyat-inggris-merana,2/2/2014
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intended to counterbalance NATO.22 This should be a concern for Europe because Turkey is an important country.
The Turkey‟s desire to keep pursuing the membership of EU in 2010-2013
ago does not actually make sense because the EU‟s economic condition was
unstable and this absolutely could affect negative for the stability of the Turkey's economy. If the big intention of Turkey is security factor due to the anarchy of the world as the realist assumption, it does not also make sense, as we know that Turkey has already been the NATO member since 1952. It means that Turkey is Muslim majority country with capable militarization and has the proximity with the western country particularly the United States and this will be great power for Turkey to protect himself. In adition, Turkey has shown the significant progress in his economic and political field, as the result, this country was considered as influential actor in international world. Then, what exactly does Turkey pursue in EU membership while the EU has not been providing certainty about Turkish membership up to now? In this research the Turkey's interest in EU membership in the middle of its stability of economy and security aspect will be discussed.
22IRIB, Keanggotaan Turki di Uni Eropa, Impian atau Kenyataan?, 18 February 2013.Available from:
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B.Research Question:
The progress of Turkey in economy and politics do not stop this country from seeking the EU membership, besides, Turkey is one of the influential countries in the world due to its strategic position in geographical and geopolitical aspect and they have already got security needs by join a NATO member. Then here appear a big question: Why does Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan keep seeking the membership of European Union after the postponement of EU for several years particularly in 2010-2013??
C.Research Propose and Objectives: The purposes of this research are:
To know how far is the Turkish progress in economy and political aspect
To know how far is the Turkish progress in democracy and human right
To know Turkey's motive to become EU member amid its politic and economic stability under Prime Minister Erdogan while EU is in crisis particularly in 2010-2013
To know how far is the Turkish effort to become EU member.
The objectives of this research are:
To know the applicability of Foreign Policy concept of IR in this case
To Know the applicability of National Interest concept of IR in this case
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D.Literature Review:
The issue of Turkey and its relationship with the European Union is indeed very interesting to be discussed. Many authors have studied this problem with different substances which has been written in their articles, journals, thesis and also books. Among them is Ziya Onis with an article of Turkey, Europe, and Paradoxes of Identity. This article discusses the stagnation of the acceptance of Turkey as a full member of the European Union, while the countries of the former communist colonies in Central and Eastern Europe would be accepted. This is surprising because Turkey has long expressed his proposal, while those other states have recently experienced democratization. The authors conclude that all these countries have a lot of similarity with EU member states. Therefore, the smooth fate of Eastern European countries was missed by Turkey because his majority of population is Muslim. This is unfortunate, because the deepening of democracy in Turkey requires the integration of the country into the European Union.23
Besides that, there‟s also an article from Vincent Morelli of European
Union Enlargement: A Status Report on Turkey‟s Accession Negotiations. This article talks about the agenda, particularly along 2012, and the report of process of negotiations that have been held by European Union and Turkey toward full membership in the Union. The negotiation process also deal with the problem between Turkey and Cyprus an also about the “Positive Agenda” that was described by the Commission as intended to bring fresh dynamics into EU-Turkey relations. In addition, this report also talks about the response of Members of
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Congress toward the membership of Turkey in the current day. Some of them
have expressed support for Turkey‟s membership in the EU, but some of them seem to have diminished their interest of it recently.24
On the other side, Fithri Asmawita from the International Relation student University of Gajah Mada Yogyakarta, Indonesia in her Master Thesis of
“Turkish Diplomacy to become Full Member of European Union” talks about
Turkey‟s diplomatic proses to be the member of EU that took long time. It talks
about Turkish history in applying the proposal of the membership of EU in 1987 and begun its negotiation in 2005. There are about 35 chapters of the rules which should be negotiated by Turkey. The main idea contained in this thesis was about Turkish Foreign Policy, its negotiation process and also its propaganda. Then this
thesis focuses on how the diplomatic process taken by Turkey as Turkey‟s process to become the member of EU has taken a long time than the other candidate that have been a part of EU.25
And the other thesis come from Onur Yalcinkaya from the Faculty of Economy University of Hannover Leibiniz, Turkey, in his Master Thesis of
“Analysis Of The Turkish Financial Market With Focus On EU Membership”
talks about Turkey‟s economy that has developed during its time in pursuing the
full membership of EU in contradiction to the Global and European financial markets. This paper is prepared to examine and analyses the importance of Turkey for the EU due to in particular economic reasons. The history of the EU and Turkey relations, the legal, political, social, cultural, and especially economic issues for the full membership of Turkey in the EU in order to show the
24 Vincent Morelli, “European Union Enlargement: A Status Report on Turkey‟s Accession Negotiations”,
Congssional Report Service, 2013
25 Fithri Asmawita, (2009). “Diplomasi Turki untuk Bergabung dengan Uni Eropa”, Thesis of Master for
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economic–political structure and the integration ability of Turkey with the EU are
discussed in this thesis. The last part of this research evaluates Turkey‟s possible accession to the EU given recent developments in Turkey‟s economy and
financial sector.26
Both of journals and also the first thesis discuss more on the process of acceptance of Turkey's membership in the European Union while the last thesis tend to discuss more on Turkeys condition in social, politic and economy aspect that tend to be more stable compared with EU itself, while this research will be more discussing and analyzing of why Turkey is still pursuing this membership amid of the economic crisis in the European Union, whereas the economic and security situation in the country Turkey itself are stable, in addition this country has the big influence in relations between the Western Countries and the Middle East. Then in this research the author will identify the reason of Turkey in its insisting on pursuing permanent membership of the EU while Turkey is now growing up to be quite calculated country in the world with economy and politics stability.
E.Theoretical Framework:
In this research, the concept of Foreign Policy and National Interest will be used in order to analyze Turkey‟s current reason of its proposal to become EU member. As cited from global.britanica.com, foreign policy is general objectives that guide the activities and relationships of one state in its interactions with other states. The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic
26Onur Yalcinkaya, (2012), “Analysis of Turkish Financial Market with Focus on EU Membership”, Master
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considerations, the policies or behaviour of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs.27 On the other hand, the concept of national interest is used in both political analysis and political action. As an analytic tool, it is employed to describe, explain, or evaluate the sources or the adequacy of a
nation‟s foreign policy. As an instrument of political action, it serves as a means
of justifying, denouncing, or proposing policies.28 The foreign policy is the instrument to pursue the national interest. Then the foreign policy and national interest will always relate each other.
1. Foreign Policy
There are definitions of Foreign Policy theory among International Relation scholars, one of them is Holsti that said in his book that Foreign policy is designed to change conditions abroad for their own sake, most are designed to promote some domestic purpose.29 According to him, foreign policy also includes several actions which are the things governments do to others in order to defend or achieve the kinds of purposes. Holsti states that the response is the act of foreign
policy to react on the one state‟s influencing action to another state and the
resources or leverage that used to make the wielding of influence succesful. There are five kind of responses; to accomodate, to ignore, to procrastinate, to bargain, and to resist. In foreign policy, there are at least four purposes that are common, security, autonomy, welfare, and status or prestige.30 In the theory of Foreign Policy, Holsti classified the factors of Foreign Policy making into
27Global Britannica,
Foreign policy, [database online] accessed from
http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/213380/foreign-policy, 5/2/2014
28James N. Rosenau, The Study of World Politics: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges, (USA:
Routladge, 2006), p: 246
29K.J Holsti,”International Politics : A Framework for Analysis, (New Jersey : Prentice Hall, 1988), 136. 30Ibid, p: 83
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External/Systemic Factors and Domestic Factors. External Factors contained by Structure of System, Characteristics/Structure of World Economy, Purpose and action of other actors, Global and regional problem, International law, and World Opinion. While in the Domestic Context contained by Socioeconomic/Security needs, Geographic and Topographic Characteristics, National Attributes, Government Structure/Philosophy, Public Opinion, Bureaucracy, and Ethical Consideration.31
In this research, the use of the theory of foreign policy will more refer to the theory of Holsti that emphasize on external and internal factors in foreign policy making. Thus, the analysis developed in this research focuses on the assumption that Turkish motive to become EU member is Turkey's foreign policy which is based on the internal and external factors.
2. National Interest
As well as Foreign Policy, there are definitions of the concept of National Interest. In the internet dictionary, the national interest defined as a broad term for any matter of public concern that is addressed by a government in law or policy. And the definitions of this concept also come from scholars. Among them are Donald E. Nuechterlein, Hans J. Mogenthau, Beard,and also Holsti.
Donald said that the national interest is the set of goals a nation or country strives for in the world, as contrasted with its domestic needs and priorities but it is
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different with public interest.32 While according to Beard, National Interest is
“National Honor,” “the Public Interest,” and “the General Will”.33
Hans J. Morgenthau in his book In Defense of the National Interest: A Critical Examination of American Foreign Policy said that National Interest is not only a political necessity but also a moral duty for a nation to always follow in its dealings with other nations but one guiding star, one standard for thought, one rule for action.34 Morgenthau recognized that the kind of interest determining political action in a particular period of history depends upon the political and cultural context within which foreign policy is formulated.35 National Interest is also called as purspose, according to Holsti, four purposes that are common in foreign policy making; security, autonomy, welfare, and status or prestige.36
The concept of national interest according to Beard and Donald has the contrast meaning, one said that national interest is different with public interest while the other said that it is the same and the definition of Morgenthau about the concept of national interest is more neutral. However, those definitions have similar idea that the concept of national interest has the relation with the concept of foreign policy.
This research will refer to the definition of national interest of Beard and Morgenthau as their definition is more applicable for this case. What Beard said that the national interest is the public interest is more accaptable because what
32 Donald E. Nuechterlein, National Interest And Foreign Policy Formulation, November 2000, accessed from
http://donaldnuechterlein.com/2000/major.html, 6/12/2014
33Charles Beard,
The Idea of National Interest: An Analytical Study in American Foreign Policy,(New York: Macmillan. 2934). P: 26
34Hans J Morgenthau, In Defense of the National Interest: A Critical Examination of American Foreign Policy
(New York, 1951).p. 241-242
35 Ibid, p: 8
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Turkey's government pursue for their national interest through their foreign policy is for the sake of Turkey's public interest, one of the goals is for their wealthy. The four purpose of Foreign Policy of Holsti will also be a guide in doing the analysis for this case.
F. Method:
In this research, qualitative method will be used as the method to analyze this case. Qualitative Method is Research which attempts to increase the understanding of why things are the way they are in our social world and why people act the ways they do.37 Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations.38 This method aims to describe a particular phenomenon or to determine whether there is a link between the issues with other issues which is qualified for scientific research. Issues that will be studied by the author is the Turkish motives to become a member of the European Union under Prime Minister Erdogan in the period 2010-2013.
This research uses the study data by using a variety of data from official sources such as interviews, official websites and documents state, library resources such as books, journals, research, documents, and so on. The data analysis of this research was carried out since the beginning of the research intensively. The data obtained were then collected to be processed systematically. Started with finding the data, editing, organizing, classifying, reducing primary
37Beverly Hancock, an Introduction of Qualitative Methode, Trent Focus for Research and development in
Primary Health Care.
38Family Health International, Qualitative Research Methods Overview.Qualitative Research Methods: A Data
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and secondary data that has been obtained through the official website, the documents, the books, the results/research reports, theses, journals, newspapers, online news and even from the result of seminars and interviews. After that process the data will be served and concluded. In the qualitative research method, the data verification will be conducted continuously throughout the research process. And during the process of data collection, the researcher attempted to analyze and seek to explain the meaning of the data obtained and collected by looking for patterns theme, the relationship, hypotheses and then cast in the form of conclusions, but still can be altered.
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G.
Outline:
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION H. Background I. Research Question
J. Objectives And Benefits Of Research K. Literature Review
L. Theoretical Framework M.Research Method N. Research Outline
CHAPTER II EUROPEAN UNION AND TURKISH EFFORT TO BECOME EU MEMBER BEFORE PM ERDOGAN ERA
C. Organization of European Integration: European Union 3. Background and Its Enlargement
4. The Provision to Become European Union Permanent Member
D. The Turkish Effort for EU Membership Before PM Erdogan Leadership
5. Turkish Application for European Union 6. Turkish Motives behind Its Application
a. Economy
b. Politics
7. European Union‟s Response Toward Turkish Application for EU Membership Status Before PM Erdogan Era
CHAPTER III TURKISH EFFORT FOR EU MEMBERSHIP IN PM ERDOGAN ERA D. The Success of Turkey under PM Erdogan
3.Economy 4.Politics
E. The Current Turkish Approach for EU membership F. The Current Response of EU toward Turkish Proposal
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF TURKEY‟S FOREIGN POLICY AND ITS MOTIVES TO BECOME EU MEMBER STATE
C. Analysis of Turkish Foreign Policy: Keep Maintaining the Accession in European Union under PM Erdogan Leadership (2010-2013)
3. External Factors
4) Nature of The World Economy 5) World Opinion
6) Structure of The System 4. Domestic Factors
4) National Atributes 5) Public Opinion 6) Bureaucracy
D. National Interest of Turkey behind Its Foreign Policy 4. Economic Purposes
5. Stability of Domestic Politics 6. European Status
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CHAPTER II
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND TURKISH EFFORT TO BECOME EU MEMBER BEFORE PM ERDOGAN ERA
A. Organization of European Integration: European Union
1. The Background and Its Enlargement
The European Union (EU), created by the Maastricht Treaty on November 1st 1993, is a unification of 28 member states that were united to create a political and economic community throughout Europe.39 It is a political and economic union between European countries which makes its own policies concerning the
members‟ economies, societies, law and to some extent security.40
This organization has good records on its potential and outcome in various aspects particularly in economy.
In the structure of the European Union, the "Institutional Triangle" play big
role in creating treaty and law. The “Institutional Triangle” consists of the Council
representing national governments, the European Parliament representing the people, and the European Commission that is responsible for holding up Europe's main interests. In addition, the European Commission also monitors the candidate's progress in applying EU legislation and meeting its other commitments, including any benchmark requirements. The Commission also keeps the EU Council and European Parliament informed throughout the process,
39 Amanda Briney, The European Union: A History and Overview, 29 May 2014. [database online], available
from: http://geography.about.com/od/geographyintern/a/euoverview.htm, accessed at 23th of April, 2014
40 Robert Wilde, History of The European Union, [article online], available from:
http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/governmentandlaw/a/europeanunionhist.htm, accessed at Wednesday 23th of April, 2014, 10.23 AM
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through regular reports, strategy papers, and clarifications on conditions for further progress.41
Nowadays the European Union (EU) has 28 Member States. Following the first six Member States which are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and 22 countries have acceded to the Union and here are the data of those member states:
1973: Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom; 1981: Greece;
1986: Spain and Portugal;
1995: Austria, Finland, and Sweden;
2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia;
2007: Bulgaria and Romania. 2013: Croatia 42
2. The Provisions to Become European Union Permanent Member
Being the EU membership is a matter of pride for most European countries. Due to its success, the EU does selectively incorporate a new member into the community. This way was conducted to maintain the unity and progress of the EU itself. Thus, it was no wonder if the EU sets out a lot of requirements and procedures for European countries seeking for the membership of the European Union. The current legal framework that is applicable to the enlargement of the
41 European Commission, Conditions for Membership, Last updated 8 November 2013. Available from:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/conditions-membership/index_en.htm, 3/4/2014
42European Commission, Enlargement, 27 March 2014.[ online database] available from:
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European Union is Maastricht Treaty 1992 article O replacing Article 237 of the Treaty of Rome which defines the membership of the European Union as follows:
Any European State may apply to become a member of the Union. It shall address its application to the council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the Commission and after receiving the assent of the European Parliament, which shall act by an absolute majority of its component members. The condition of admission and the adjustment to the Treaties on which the Union is founded which such admission entails shall be the subject of an agreement between the member states and the applicant state. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting states in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.43
This article explained about the procedure to become EU member and the candidate countries are required to meet those procedure and the standard criteria set by the EU to join them. The most important step for the country to be a full member of EU is to meet the key criteria for accession which was named by 'Copenhagen Criteria' and they also have to fulfill the Acquis communautaire. The
Acquis Communautaire is the accumulated body of European Union (EU) law and
obligations from 1958 to the present day. It includes action that EU governments take together in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, and under the Common Foreign, and Security Policy. 44 The Acquis consists of 35 Chapters and
43 “The Maastricth Treaty, article O“, (Maastricth, February 1992), p. 49. Accessed from
http://www.eurotreaties.com/maastrichtec.pdf
44 Vaughne Miller, The EU‟s Acquis Communautaire, International Affairs and Defence Section, (House of
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the applicant countries must adopt, implement and enforce all the acquis to be allowed to join the EU.45
In addition to the Acquis, the candidate countries need also to fulfill the requirement named The Copenhagen Criteria that was mainly defined at the European Council in Copenhagen in June, 1993. Countries wishing to join need to have:
• Stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of Minorities.
• A functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition
and market forces in the EU.
• The last, the ability to take on and implement effectively the obligations of
membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.46
45Chapters of the acquis,
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/conditions-membership/chapters-of-the-acquis/index_en.htm
Chapter 1: Free movement of goods, 2: Freedom of movement for workers, 3: Right of establishment and freedom to provide services, 4: Free movement of capital, 5: Public procurement, 6: Company law, 7: Intellectual property law, 8: Competition policy, 9: Financial services, 10: Information society and media, 11: Agriculture and rural development, 12: Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy, 13: Fisheries, 14: Transport policy, 15: Energy, 16: Taxation, 17: Economic and monetary policy, 18: Statistics, 19: Social policy and employment, 20: Enterprise and industrial policy, 21: Trans-European networks, 22: Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments, 23: Judiciary and fundamental rights, 24: Justice, freedom and security, 25: Science and research, 26: Education and culture, 27: Environment, 28: Consumer and health protection, 29: Customs union, 30: External relations, 31: Foreign, security and defence policy, 32: Financial control, 33: Financial and budgetary provisions, 34: Institutions, 35: Other issues
46 European Commission-Enlargement, Accession Criteria, 2012, [online database], available from:
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The process of joining the EU accession broadly consists of 3 stages:
1. Applying for the membership status and if it was approved by EU Parliament it becomes an officialcandidate for membership.
2. The candidate moves on to formal membership negotiations, a process that involves the adoption of established EU law, preparations to be in a position to properly apply and enforce it and implementation of judicial, administrative, economic and other reforms necessary for the country to meet the conditions for joining, known as accession criteria.
3. When the negotiations and accompanying reforms have been completed to the satisfaction of both sides, the country can join the EU.47
Those are the main requirements that must be met for a country that is interested in becoming a full member of the European Union.
B. The Turkish Approach for EU Membership before PM Erdogan Leadership
1. Turkish Application for European Union
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1 in 1918 led a very large impact on Turkey. The state that was originally classified as having reactionaries and conservatives politics had changed almost 360 degrees into a very secular state and nationalist country. The secular state of Turkey was based
47 European Commission, Steps Towards Joining, 2012, [online database], available from:
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on the new constitution of Turkey in 1924 chapter 1 which is; first: Republic; second: Nationalist; third: democracy; fourth: state; fifth: secularist; sixth: revolutionist.48 The secular state led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk come through a massive revolution especially in his transition to adopt democracy system and to fix his economic problem. Under this circumstance, Turkish foreign policy was prioritized to the Western aimed to gain economic and military aid and the guidance for the reference to be democratic and secular state from the West.
The Turkish efforts to realize its dream to become a modern developed and democratic country was manifested in various ways, one of which was by applying for EU membership. What underlying Turkey to dare to take this step was the feeling of Turkey as the part of Europe because Turkey has some territorial part in that region. During the Cold War Turkey was part of the Western alliance, defending freedom, democracy and human rights.49
After built the very close relation with the Western Europe in the political field, Turkey started to complete the relationship in the economic field. Thus, Turkey started with applying for associate membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1st of September 1959.50Turkey‟s efforts were rewarded by signing the Association agreement ("Ankara Agreement") in 1st September 1963, aiming at bringing Turkey into a customs union with the EEC and, ultimately, membership. To implement this association agreement, the EEC provided Turkey with loans worth 175 million ECU. The trade concessions which the EEC granted
48 Ahla Aulia, Diplomasi Turki Untuk Menjadi Anggota Uni Eropa (2007-2012), (Bachelor Thesis: Fisip UIN
Jakarta, 2013), p: 27
49 Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, History of Turkey –EU Relations; 2011, [database online]
available at http://www.abgs.gov.tr/?p=111&l=2, accessed at 4/9/2014
50Turkey-EU Chambers Forum,Information on Turkey-EU relation: The accession negotiation Process, 2011,
http://www.etcf.org.tr/EN/Genel/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313AAF6AA849816B2EF3143C82B0599 388A, accessed at 3/9/2014
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to Turkey rose from 29% in 1963 to 42% in 1972.51 These assistances made Turkey more confident to realize its desire to become a modern Western state, finally On April 14 1987, Turkey formally applied for full membership of the European Community which is known now as the European Union.52 This decision was taken under the leadership of President Kenan Evran (1982-1989) and initiated by Prime Minister Turgut Ozal.53
After the application was received, the council sent the application to the Commission for its opinion. The Commission presented its opinion in 1989, which
basically underlined Turkey‟s eligibility for membership but mentioned that great
economic and social differences still exist between the two sides. The commission also concluded that the conjectural environment is not suitable for the enlargement of the Community.54 What means by the great economic and social differences here
are about Turkey‟s high rate of inflation, high growth rate of population, low level of national income and per capita income level which was only 10% of the EU average, share of agriculture within the economic activities, big share of agricultural employment within the total working force etc. In addition, the political and
democratic problems in Turkey such as the minorities‟ problems and the Cyprus
dispute were also being high consideration of EU Commission.55 The commission decided not to give any positive and negative answer to Turkey‟s application at that moment and asked for deepening the economic relations with Turkey within the
51 Republic of Turkey-Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkey-EU Relation, available from:
http://www.mfa.gov.tr/relations-between-turkey-and-the-european-union.en.mfa, 4/9/2014
52 European Commission, Enlargement: Turkey, Last Updated: 6 November 2013.
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/detailed-country-information/turkey/index_en.htm
53 Ahla Aulia, Diplomasi Turki Untuk Menjadi Anggota Uni Eropa (2007-2012), p: 34 54 Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, History of Turkey –EU Relations; 2011
55Ilhan Ozturk dan Kamil Sertoglu, “Turkey and European Union Relations : Concept of the Custom Union”,
Pakistan Horizon, Vol.56, No.3, 2003, p: 2-3. Downloaded from accessed from:
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content of “Matudes Report” which aimed at achieving the customs union with
Turkey by the end of 1995. On 1 January 1996 the Custom Union that was planned in Ankara Agreement entered into force.56
This Custom Union Program brought many benefits for Turkish economy.
Trade figures after the completion of the Customs Union revealed that Turkey‟s
imports from the EU rose by 34.7% in 1996 compared to 1995 while the exports
rose by only 3.6%. The EU preserved as Turkey‟s biggest trading partner with a 52.9% share in Turkey‟s imports and 49.5% in exports. This profit continued in the
next two years that in 1997 Turkey's exports to the EU rose from 12.2 billion dollars to 13.4 billion dollars in 1998 and imports from the EU increased from 24 billion dollars to 24.8 billion dollars in the same period.57 Those achievements from Custom Union opened greater opportunity for Turkey to be accepted as EU member. Eventually, there was one more progress for Turkish accession that in 13th of December 1997, Luxembourg Council summit declared that Turkey was eligible to become the EU member. The Enlargement of the candidate status was officially recognized for Turkey in European Council Summit Meeting in Helsinki on 11th of December 1999.58
2. Another Effort of Turkey to Gain the Membership Status
Turkey has been striving very hard in the fight for full membership in the European Union to show that Turkey was serious and deserve to be one of permanent member of EU. One of its efforts was by adopting the "Harmonization
56Susanne Voigt, The Customs Union Between Turkey and the EU: How Did it Affect Turkey?, (Durck
Diplomica, Hamburg: 2008), p: 1
57 Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, History of Turkey –EU Relations; 2011
58Republic of Turkey-Ministry for EU Affairs, Chronology Of Turkey- European Union Relations (1959 - 2009),
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Package" aimed to equalize the legal and the state system that was implemented in EU member states. This Harmonization Package was first enforced on February 19, 2002 and there were 8 steps of this policy that has been enforced by the Turkish Government before PM Erdogan period, there were:
1. The first harmonization package enacted a series of amendments to the Penal Code, the Anti-terror Law, Law on the Establishment and Proceedings at the State Security Courts and the Code of Criminal Procedure in the context of the expansion of the freedom of expression, the reduction of pre-trial detention periods and the safeguard provisions of the rights of prisoners.
2. The second package amended the Press Law, the Law on Political Parties, the Law on Associations and the Law on Meetings and Demonstration Marches, the Law on Civil Servants, the Act on the Organization, Duties and Competences of the Gendarmerie and the Act on Provincial Administration
3. The third harmonization package abolished the death penalty, introduced provisions to the relevant codes paving the way for retrial, extended the freedoms of expression and association, addressed the legal conditions pertaining to real estate held by community foundations, provided for changes in provisions on education and broadcasting vis-à-vis cultural rights and continued to bring national legislation into alignment with the constitutional amendments.
4. The fourth harmonization package engendered significant changes in the context of the expansion of the freedom of association, deterrence against torture and mistreatment, and safeguard provisions on the rights of prisoners.
5. The fifth harmonization package includes provisions on retrial and on the freedom of association.
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6. The sixth harmonization package introduced significant legal changes expanding the freedom of expression, safeguard provisions on the rights of prisoners, religious freedom, right to life and retrial
7. The seventh harmonization package introduced significant changes in the context of the expansion of the freedom of expression, freedom of association, safeguard provisions on the rights of prisoners, religious freedom, the rights of children, cultural rights, civilian-military relations and the functionality of the executive. 8. The eighth Harmonization Package abolished the death penalty and replaced with
aggravated life sentence with the amendment of various laws.
The impact of the harmonization packages on life in Turkey has been revolutionary. The harmonization packages changed existing legislation to improve human rights, strengthen safeguards against torture and mistreatment, and broadened freedom of expression. Today, Turkey is free, more self-confident, more stable, more developed and more prestigious than it was before December 1999.59
3. Turkish Motives Behind Its Application
The unstable condition of Turkey after World War 1 forced this country to find a way to survive. Right after the Collapse of Ottoman Empire, the economic, political, socio-cultural, law, and other aspects were experiencing tremendous collapse. So, no doubt that the Turkey's aim to join the European Union is to fix the condition of the country that was once very unstable. From these condition can
59Kemal, Mustafa, “Political Reforms in Turkey”, Republic of Turkey, Ministeri of Foreign Affais, Secretariat
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be analyzed that the motive of Turkey to become a permanent member of the EU tended to be economic and political goals.
a. Economy
In the post-World War 1 the Turkish economic condition was remained weak.60 The four years of 1954 to 1958 were the years of increasing inflation, continued balance-of-payments difficulties and other economic problems. Thus, in the 1950s the government was aggressively intervening the domestic market and seeking for foreign investment expecting to improve their economic condition.61 At the same time, the EEC (now EU) was starting to develop and enjoy its success in economic field. Thus, there are many countries who want to be part of this community, including Turkey which basically only has a little part in the European region. This European Integration was chosen by Turkey because it was expected to stimulate the growth of the Turkish economy as this community stimulated economic growth of its member countries.
Turkey needs EEC to expand its market and foreign investment.62 The result of exports and imports and foreign investment will greatly help Turkey to rebuild its economy and if Turkey becomes a member of this community, Turkey will certainly meet the easy way to borrow capital from the EEC, because one of the EEC duty is to help its members building and advancing their economy. Thus, It is quite obvious that Turkey could take the benefit of economic development if the Turkey abled to become a member of the European Union at that time. So no
60Feroz Ahmad, The making of Modern Turkey, (Routledge, London, 1993), p: 95
61Katinka Barysch, “The Economics of Turkish Accession”, Centre for European Reforms Essays, London, p: 3 62Ilhan Ozturk and Kamil Sertoglu, “Turkey and European Union Relations: Concept of Customs Union”.p: 3-7
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doubt if the economy is one of the priority goals of Turkey to join the European Union.
b. Politics
In addition to economic reason, another very important thing to be noticed by a country conducting the reformation is the reconstruction of the state system. Here, Turkey that previously adopted the caliphate system had transitioned into a liberal democratic state. This country had definitely needed the guidance to implement the democratic system in the country and it has been very famous that the USA and its Western ally, Europe, are the biggest democratic country in this world. Then due to the proximity of the area and because their close relationship in post-World War, Turkey considered that the most relevant partner to help Turkish Government to conduct democracy is Europe because Turkey felt that it was part of that territory. During its transition process into a democratic state, in the late 1970s, Turkey was dominated by military rule, until September 1980 this regime had restructured the constitution and intervened the system of Turkish government. Until 1983, the new Turkish government could feel again their right to establish parliamentary democracy of its country in November 1983.63 For this reason, Turkey's the political elite and the business community expected the EU aid to fix the democratic system after the Turkish military intervention.64 The other Turkish interest in politics was to encourage the liberalization of the
63 All About Turkey, Military Intervention in Turkey, 2014[online article], available from:
http://www.allaboutturkey.com/darbe.htm, accessed at 2/5/2014
64 Ihsan Dagi, "Democratic Transition in Turkey, 1980-83: The Impact of European Diplomacy," Middle Eastern
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constitutional and legal system which would help Turkey to improve the democracy in its country like the democracy of Europe.65
4. EU's Response Toward Turkey’s Application for EU Membership Status Before PM Erdogan Era
Turkey had started the struggle to pursue membership status of EU since 55 years ago, but the response of EU toward this accession was considered very slow compared to the accession proses of other countries. This phenomenon was actually seemed quite unfair for Turkey as his process of accession is the longest process ever experienced by the candidate of full member of EU. The
postponement of EU toward Turkey‟s accession was based on several factors. Among them are: economy, government system, Turkish Culture, and Its problem with Greece. And here are the details:
1.Economic
Economic factor is one of the EU‟s considerations to include Turkey into
full membership of the European Union. Turkey had once unstable economy in the early time of applying the full membership of EU. Turkish economy has not been able to overcome its traditional problem of endemic instability and recurrent crisis. The performance of the economy in that year was characterized by a low-growth, high-inflation equilibrium.66 By the time, the GNI of Turkey was still far
below the European Union‟s, which was 1730 USD in 1987 compare to the EU
65Ilhan Ozturk and Kamil Sertoglu, “Turkey and European Union Relations: Concept of Customs Union”. p: 7. 66Ali Carkoglu and Barry Rubin, Turkey and the European Union: Domestic Politics, Economic Integration and
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9667 USD in 1987.67 In this period also, Turkey was a country that once was still highly depending its economy on the agriculture sector and was still not much projecting the development of the industrial sector, in addition, 43% of the Turkish population are poor farmers.68 These things showed that the Turkish economy at this time was at the low level and still left behind compared to European Union countries. It was true that EU would help in stabilizing the economy of its member states, but there were the standards that were determined by the European Union for the candidate countries to be accepted as a permanent member of European Union, those standards are: at the macro level, the deficit of
candidate‟s government must not exceed 3 % from the GDP. Besides, the
government debt also should not exceed 60 % from the GDP, while the average nominal long-term interest rates that were raised by candidate states should not exceed 2 % of the average interest rate.69 Those standards have to be fulfilled by all candidate countries so that the EU itself would not feel very hard to help the member countries to stabilize their economy and so that the economic integration in EU itself would always be kept in balance. Then the economic situation was being one of the reason behind the postponement of Turkish accession in this period.
2 . The Government System
There was nothing wrong with the Turkish government system, because Turkey adopted a democratic system for its government after founding of the secular Turkish state, but something wrong according to EU about Turkey here
67Index Mundi, European Union-GNI per capita, (online database), accessed from:
www.indexmundi.com/fact/european-union/gni-per-capita, 5/5/2014
68Atika puspita, Recep Tayyib Erdogan: Turki, Islam, dan Uni Eropa, (Heptacentrum Press), p: 35 69Ibid, p: 30
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was the implementation of democracy itself. Generally, democracy has meaning of freedom which means that all elements of state and society have a voice in policy making, of course the democracy itself has been distinguished with the term "from the people, by the people, for the people". But what happened in the government of Turkey can be said quite far from the real implementation of democracy. Turkey was still dominated by a repressive military rule, the role of the military was very dominating and authoritarian in policy making in Turkey, this was a legacy of Mustafa Kemal At-Taturk‟s secular system. In the other side, although Turkey declared itself as a democratic country, there were still happening a lot of human rights violations in Turkey, the biggest example was about the conflict with the Kurds.70 So from these facts the EU saw that Turkey was not ready to join the European Union which notably uphold the democracy.
3 . Turkish Demography and Culture
Another major consideration of EU to include Turkey as a member was Turkey's geographical location. According to the European Union, Turkey was not part of them geographically, it was seen from the Turkish culture that was very different with EU. In addition, Turkey with very huge population that was the second-largest population after Germany in Europe with Muslim majority was also being a strong reason of EU to suspend the membership of Turkey. The demographic factor has been certainly worrying the EU about the impact brought by Turkey to the EU Parliament's decision if Turkey were a permanent member of
EU, because the EU parliament‟s voice is determined by the vote of European
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Union people itself,71 in the other words the EU worry that Turkey would bring the circulation of EU politics into the different directions because of the Muslim majority of Turkey.
Not only the EU elite that tried to reject the full membership of Turkey, but the majority of the EU people were also reluctant to approve the accession of Turkey. The number of European society that rejected Turkish membership in the EU was 58 % in 1997 and this number continued to increase every year until the EU officially announced that Turkey was an official candidate of the EU in 1999. The number of European people who still refuse at that time was still 61%.72 The number was certainly had a big influence in the European Council's decision in deciding the Turkish membership in the European Union.
4. Turkish Problem with Cyprus
The Cyprus problem has been considered as serious problem happened in Turkey since the 1960s. This conflict occurred between Cyprus with Greece as a result of the formation of the Cyprus state.73 Previously, in the 1950s, Turkey considered that the problem of Cyprus was an internal British matter, as a country that was having authority in Cyprus at the time. In its development, Turkey was involved in the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus which emphasized the essence of the so-called bi-national partnership state. When the conflict arose and escalated to be an issue of scramble for influence between Greece and Turkey, Turkish interest in Cyprus problem was to become a basis advocate for the
71Europa-Summaries of EU Legislation,
The decision-making process and the work of the institutions, [online database],http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/decisionmaking_process/index_en.htm, 3/5/2014
72Jürgen Gerhards and Silke Hans, “Why not Turkey? Attitudes towards Turkish membership in the EU among
citizens in 27 European countries”, Journal of Common Market Studies 2010 or 2011, p:7
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Turkish community living in Cyprus as minorities.74 This Cyprus case become the arena of conflict between Turkey and EU member states, one of them was Germany which obviously supported Greece.75 The rejection of Germany as the supporter of Greece would bring a strong impact as this country owned the qualified majority voting. This Cyprus problem then led the Turkey's accession process to be hampered.
There were some criteria and requirements that have not been fulfilled by Turkey to be a permanent member of EU, and this what seemed to be the reason
of EU‟s rejection. But however, the European Union still respond and appreciate
the Turkish efforts to become a full member of EU, it can be seen from their response by processing the Turkish accession until Turkish admission as a candidate of permanent member of EU and by holding the meetings and conferences within the European Council to discuss the Turkish accession in the European Union.
74Nendra Primonik, Masalah Perluasan Keanggotaan: Politisasi keanggotaan Eropa, 19 June 2010.
http://m.kompasiana.com/post/read/171392/3/masalah-perluasan-keanggotaan-politisasi-konstitusi-eropa.html
75 Ministry of Foreign Affair of Turkey, Relation between Turkey and Greece, 2013, [online database], available
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http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/turkish-prime-minister-erdogan-sets-deadline-for-eu-admission-a-864579.html, accessed at 8/8/2014
The Telegraph, “Timeline: history of the European Union”, 14 September 2009, 07:00 AM BMT. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/6181087/Timeline-history-of-the-European-Union.html
Todays Zaman, EU-Turkey readmission agreement ratified by Parliament, June 26, 2014, available from:
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-351412-eu-turkey-readmission-agreement-ratified-by-parliament.html, accessed at 11/8/2014
Todays Zaman, Erbakan aide: Foreign powers contributed to 1997 coup”, October 12, 2012, available from:
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Tuysuz, Gul and Tavernise, Sabrina , “Europe-Top Generals Quit in Group, Stunning Turks,” The New York Times, July 29, 2011, available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/world/europe/30turkey.html?pagewanted=all& _r=0, accessed at 22/7/2014
The Washington Post Company,Who Are the Kurds, 1999, available from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/feb99/kurdprofile.htm. 16 May, 2014 The Guardian, Abdullah Gul visits Britain as EU turns its back on Turkey, available from:
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4.
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5.
Thesis:
Aulia, Ahla, Diplomasi Turki Untuk Menjadi AnggotaUni Eropa (2007-2012), (Bachelor Thesis: FISIP UIN Jakarta, 2013), p: 27
Hidayat, Dadang, (1999) “Prospek Keanggotaan Turki dalam Uni Eropa, SebuahTinjauanPolitik”, Thesis, Universitas Indonesia,
6.
Interview:
Aydogan, Ersin, First Secretary in Turkey's Embassy Office in Indonesia, Jakarta 13 July 2014