Beyond the Bosphorus? comparing German, French and British discourses on Turkey’s application to join the European Union

This article examines the impact of national borders on public discourses, based on a case study of the struggle surrounding Turkey’s application to join the European Union (EU). Comparing opinions, reasons and interpretation patterns in press commentaries about enlarging the EU beyond the Bosphorus, the findings confirm the paramount importance and robustness of national cleavages between the German and the French public sphere on the one hand, and the British on the other. Whereas Turkish membership was predominantly re-jected on the continent, the British commentators strongly and almost unanimously sup-ported Ankara’s request to open doors. These similarities and divergences, I argue, are first and foremost the result of, and linked with, competing visions of Europe’s finality, especially regarding various constitutional ideas and cultural principles. Against this background, the Turkey question was partly exploited as an instrument supporting or repressing different conceptions of the European Union’s future