Turkey's ambivalent relations with the European Union: a question of identity

Abstract

Turkish-European relations have long been characterised by Turkey's desire for full EU membership. Yet, scholarship has often overlooked the fact that these relations are also marked by ambivalence. Prevalent discursive and ideational constructions in Turkey about its 'Europeanness' have clashed with fears that a further Europeanisation of the country would undermine the country's very identity. Thus, what explains this seemingly contradictory drive for EU membership? Unfortunately, mainstream theories of International Relations cannot answer this question because their analytic purview marginalises ideational factors and questions of identity. This thesis therefore employs a constructivist framework. The central finding of this thesis is that Turkey's pursuit of EU membership is best explained by understanding the centrality of identity in Turkey's European policy. Turkish identity, which links directly to the notion of contemporary European civilisation, reveals the underlying causes for the longstanding ambivalence in Turkey-EU relations. Specifically, this ambivalence results, on the one hand, from Turkey's drive towards Europe in the "will to civilisation" that has characterised the country since the Kemalist revolution and, on the other hand, from the increasing sense of insecurity that the country has recently been experiencing as a result of the emergence of powerful counter-identities that have threatened the homogeneous and secular nature of the Turkish state.