Turkey’s 45-Year E.U. Story

However, Turkey was not named as a candidate for full membership in the of E.U. state and presidential summit held in Luxemburg in 1997. After this unexpected event, Turkey-E.U. relations went sour. Turkey was then given a candidacy statue at the European Council (EC) Helsinki Summit in 1999. Here, no political preconditions except the Copenhagen Criteria was presented for Turkey’s candidacy. Ankara started fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria, but then the Cyprus issue and relations with Greece became an obstacle to E.U. membership.

Turkey has since made significant progress in human rights and democratization, broadcasting and education in the Kurdish language and the army’s role in politics. Expecting of E.U. to be given a date for membership negotiations, Turkey’s situation is reviewed in annual progress reports.