Situating Turkey within the European union

Abstract

Turkish-European Union relations, in terms of identity, are in need of reassessment. They represent a microcosm of the more general crisis the EU is currently facing. An EU identity is still in the process of construction. The undetermined nature of the process of integration and the EU's own identity crisis are at the root of questions surrounding Turkey's 'Europeanness'. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the debates in Europe around whether Turkey is European or not. It approaches this by exploring the various historical projects that aimed to unify Europe. It concludes that the answer to questions surrounding Turkey's identity is intimately connected with how the EU conceptualises its own identity.