Turkey’s troubled quest for eu membership

Abstract

Turkey-European Union (EU) relations are always worth pondering. It is surely without doubt that relations between Turkey and the EU, within a six-decade period, have broken down frequently. Recently, a number of issues have worsened relations once again. A number of EU leaders and authors have thereupon put forward ill-advised alternatives for Turkey’s EU membership, such as privileged partnership instead of full membership. Should Turkey consent to privileged partnership instead of full membership due to recent problems experienced with the EU? This article takes a brief look at the recent developments in Turkey-EU relations and challenges the idea of privileged partnership. Based on the case-study methodology, the findings of this article reveal that adhering to the target of full membership by way of waiting for the appropriate time would be the proper stance for Turkey. In this sense, the idea of flexible integration emerges as a suitable path toward membership for Turkey.