The European Commission’s 2010 ‘Progress Report’ and Real Progress in Turkey-EU Relations

Estrangement in Turkey-EU relations had, unfortunately, become a fact. Although overdramatized by the media, the question of whether Turkey would eventually decide to go it alone in world affairs was real. The recent European Commission progress report, however, made only scattered references to either issue. Although the EC was right in its overall judgment, the political dimension of what had transpired in Turkey in 2010 was largely missing from its report. Turkey’s EU aspirations would remain unfulfilled until there was at least some broad alignment between what was done in the accession process and what was discussed in international capitals. Two issues might help to provide a better grasp of the problem: the recent reform of the Turkish Constitution and the evolution of Turkish foreign policy.