Turkish Modernisation and Challenges For The New Europe

Abstract

The Europeanisation process that Turkey has been undergoing, under amore credible set of incentives from the EU since 1999, has been helping totransform the country’s economy, the nature of the democratic regime and foreign policy behaviour. These transformations, coupled with the forces that aregradually paving the way for a process of political liberalisation if notdemocratisation in much of the Islamic world, are in the long run, likely to increasethe relevance of the Turkish experiment. This is in the context of a changed globalenvironment, where the impact of cross-cultural dialogue and co-operation isrecognised as having particular value for global peace and security. At the sametime there are questions concerning the key issue of whether New Europe itself willhave the capacity to accommodate the more Europeanised Turkey into her orbit.Europe has been helping Turkey to transform in recent years. However, thetransformation of Turkey and her stronger claims for membership on that basis willnot necessarily generate a stable equilibrium in Turkey-EU relations. Indeed, theprocess whereby Turkey moves closer to the heart of Europe, will contribute to theon-going debate about Europe’s own future - involving her identity, her borders,the depth of integration and the degree of inward or outward-orientation