Turkey’s EU Accesion Negotiations: On the Rocks

One year after the European Union finally agreed to launch accession negotiations with Turkey on 3 October 2005, both sides are becoming increasingly impatient of one another. On the one hand, the European Commission says the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) has Islamist roots, is not doing enough to implement reforms or protect freedom of expression and religion. On the other, Ankara believes some countries, in particular France, are moving the goal posts and that the EU, in general, could do more to resolve the deadlock over Cyprus, a problem that could torpedo Turkey’s more than 40-year bid to join the Union.

Meanwhile, opinion polls show support for Turkey’s EU membership declining in the EU: worries about enlargement, following the addition of 10 new members in 2004, played a major role in the French and Dutch rejection of the European constitution in 2005.