NEW EUROPEAN SECURITY IDENTITY AND TURKEY

Abstract

In the aftennath of the Bosnian and Kosova tragedies, the European public opinion has criticised European governments for not preventing ethnic conflİcts in the continent and indeed the public opinion has been right in its judgement. Europe has be en perceived as incapable of making any headway on the problems until the VS and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decided to intervene to the recent tragedies Iived at the end of the 1990s. The political wiII was lacking, but alsa the structure to prevent conflİcts. The resulting situation raised the question of the need to set up a new comprehensive security and defence system that wiII give Europe greater responsibiIities for its defence by establishing European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI), which has been a long historic aspiration for many Europeans.