The other side of the coin: the growing opposition in turkey against to the european union accession

INTRODUCTION

The term of "never ending story" is frequently used in the relations between Turkey and the European Union. After all, Turkey's journey with the EU began exactly on 31 July 1959. During last 54 years, there have been many changes in various areas and some of them have vital role in the recent history of the Western world; for example, the changes on the European map, the collapse of Soviet Union, wars in Balkans and, the political, economical and structural reforms in EEC within the series of treaties, but most importantly the Maastricht Treaty that introduced the European Union (EU) and the creation of the single European currency (Euro), as well. From many, these are only a few examples which come into prominence at first glance.
Today, European Union is a strong political and economical union with the numerous institutions and bodies. On 1 July 2013, Croatia became an EU member state by taking its place next to other 27 member countries. In spite of the elapsed time, Republic of Turkey is still just a candidate country of the EU. As well known, the EU membership is the one of the biggest aims of Turkey since its first application and remains a priority for Turkish foreign policy. However, the wind began to blow from the opposite direction during last a few years and the opposition against to the EU accession started to grow in Turkey. Compare to 2004, in the people who are against membership almost doubled in 2012.
The topic of the thesis was chosen in accordance of this declining support to the EU accession. In this context, curiosity of finding the reasons of this decrease created the main question of the thesis: what are the arguments of the people who are against to the EU membership? At first sight, it can come to mind that everybody has their own arguments which can lead the researcher series of difficulties to find the all answers. Nevertheless, people who do not support the EU accession meet in several points of view that they believe and present the same or very similar arguments which are effective to shape public opinion. The arguments were carefully selected by taking into consideration of their similarities, namely, which come together under the same roof. The main opinion under these arguments can simply describe as the EU accession is contrary to the sovereignty and integrity of Turkey. Therefore, the aim of the thesis to present the common arguments of non-supporters by analysing why these people believe and think that the membership of the EU accession is against to the sovereignty and integrity of Turkey.
With regard to the selected chapters, some clarifications are needed in general. Methodological background of the thesis is important in terms of the understanding in accordance of which style the thesis was written and the clear the selected sources. For this reason, the second chapter tries to explain simply the methodology of this work. The third chapter deals with the political developments of the past between the EU and Turkey to stress the reflections on their bilateral relations in today; because despite the strong ties between the EU and Turkey, the last 54 years were not easy for both of them and their relations mostly have continued within ups and downs from the beginnings. Therefore, the section, Historical Background of the Relations between Republic of Turkey and the European Union, presents these ups and downs under four subchapters in chronological order to determine the affected formations on their relations. Under the title of Turkey as Rising Power and Its Effects on the European Union Relations, simply the strengths of Turkey will be emphasised by underlining four main indicators, namely, the population, geographical features, military power and economic status of Turkey.
After explanation of the historical background of the relations and the position of Turkey in front of the EU; the growing opposition in Turkey against to the EU membership will be presented under the forth chapter of the thesis, the Interest Level of Turkey to the EU Accession. To examine the situation, it will be introduced how the support to the EU started to decrease, what are the main arguments of Turkish government officials on the declining and why the opposition started to grow. As the last chapter of the thesis, the Arguments against European Union Membership indicates similar arguments of the people who do not support the EU accession. These arguments can be considered as the most sensitive issues in Turkish policies, especially the part of minorities issues. It is extremely important to highlight, the arguments of the chapter are not contain all the Turkish citizens or the government policies of Turkey. However, after the researches it has seen that the non-supporters have also negative approaches and problems with these specific issues in accordance of the EU accession negotiations. Even though these stated arguments are not supported by whole Turkey, it does not change the fact that they are exist. Therefore, these negative approaches also needed to be analysed by taking into consideration of their effectiveness.