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

III.1. Legal Basis of the Relations
After the application for associate membership to EEC, an association agreement, known also as the Ankara Agreement, was signed between Turkey and EEC on 12 September 1963 and came into force on December 1964. The Ankara Agreement is not only important because of being the first agreement between Turkey and EEC; but also for creating the legal basis of today’s relations, even there have been several changes within the additional protocols over the time. The Ankara Agreement “aimed at securing Turkey's full membership in the EEC through the establishment in three phases of a customs union which would serve as an instrument to bring about integration between the EEC and Turkey”.¹³ This aim is based on the Article 28¹⁴ which takes part in the Ankara Agreement and considers the prospect of the accession of Turkey.¹⁵
After three years, the first Additional Protocol was signed in Brussels on November 1970 to determine some regulations on Customs Union. Being a member of the Customs Union brought the new regulations on taxation of the goods within the trade matters between the Turkey and the EEC in the case of liberalization of the trade. In 1971, the advantages of additional protocol were in favour of Turkey, especially in agricultural exports.¹⁶ The Mediterranean and South Western enlargement of EEC in 1980s – namely Greece, Spain and Portugal – caused the reduction of EEC imports from Turkey. Nevertheless, as one of the biggest agricultural producers, Turkey is still a very important trading partner of the European Union which represents the continuation of the EEC.
In course of time, the new European countries joined to the EEC through the enlargement processes. In case of Turkey, every single enlargement of the EEC was meant to sign the new protocols with the new member states and to have new obligations about the issues which were also related with the Custom Union.
III.2. Deterioration of the Relations
Besides having unstable relations with the EEC, meanwhile, Turkey started to face the problems inside the country, especially in political matters. Unlike the two previous coup d'états in 1960 and 1971, the democratic regime in Turkish politics was affected more from the 12 September 1980 coup d'état in Turkey that was caused by the political conflicts. The main reason why the army was interfered in politics by making coup d'état was the political conflicts between the radical right and radical left groups. Between 1975 and 1980, more than 5000 people were dead and almost 15000 people were injured by political violence and terrorism. Intensified violence actions caused the loss of legitimacy of the political system, especially between 1978 and 1980. As a result of this loss, Turkish government and parliament had become non-functional as well as economical and international problems occurred.¹⁷
This circumstance influenced the relations of Turkey with the other countries through its foreign policies in many areas, especially in political and economic matters. The unstable relations with the member states of EEC were the most affected. Furthermore, “the relations between Turkey and the European Union were de facto suspended for reason of requirement of the European Parliament to suspend the agreement of Turkey - European Economic Community from the European Council and European Commission”¹⁸ on 22 January 1982. The agreement had been suspended until Turkey recovered its political situation and guaranteed the human rights.¹⁹ As well known, the rule of the civil authority is very important in western democracies. At that time, the military government was ruling Republic of Turkey that can be considered as one of the main reasons of this suspension because the EEC (today`s EU) was (is) based on the rule of law, democracy and human rights. In short, the linkage between Turkey and EEC was virtually frozen until the reconstruction of a civilian government through the multiparty elections in Turkey by 1983.