Meeting the Geopolitical Challenges of the Arab Spring: A Call for a joint EU-Turkish Agenda

This policy brief discusses the potential for cooperation between Turkey and the EU in the countries that are going through political transformation in the Middle East and North Africa. Since both sides have a vested interest in seeing stability, peace and strong economic development in this shared neighbourhood, they must work together and develop a common strategy by which to combine their strengths and advantages while offsetting their weaknesses.

The brief highlights how the relationships between Turkey, the EU, and the Arab world are all fraught with difficulties and tensions that prevent coordinated action between the first two parties. Despite these limitations, if the European Union and Turkey managed to cooperate on such a geopolitically important project, it would have
an enormous additional benefit: revitalising the stalled relationship between the EU and Turkey and lending it a sense of urgency and importance.