Turkey and the European Union - Internal Dynamics and External Challenges

While accession talks between Turkey and the EU are underway, the debate over Turkey's European prospects is heating up and a variety of perspectives, positions, opinions and arguments are put forward. Turkey and the European Union makes a scholarly contribution to the debate over Turkey's quest for EU membership and participation in the European future of Turkey's Western orientation and the EU's deepening and widening. The twelve chapters cover topics in history, politics, economy, society and culture. The central question addressed is whether the Christian and Islamic worlds can accommodate each other and how the internal socio-political dynamics and external orientations of Turkey can be compatible with the logic and dynamics of European integration. The regional context of Middle Eastern politics and the evolving transatlantic relations in a changing world of rising tensions between the West and Islam are also addressed.

Introduction: Turkey at the Threshold of the EU; J.S.Joseph The Economic Dimension of Turkey's EU Membership: A Stock-taking Exercise at the Start of Accession Negotiations; M.Ugur Between Fedora and Fez: Modern Turkey's Troubled Road to Democratic Consolidation and the Pluralizing Role of Erdogan's Pro-Islam Government; S.Kotsovilis The EU Challenge: A View from the Turkish Grand National Assembly; N.G.Loizides & E.Ersin Relations between the State and Civil Society in Turkey: Does the EU Make a Difference?; W.Weber The Kurdish Problem in International Politics; M.M.Gunter The Europeanization of Turkey's Kurdish Question; N.Tocci The Greek Variable in EU-Turkish Relations; A.Kazamias Turkey's Quest for EU Membership and the Cyprus Problem; T.Bahcheli Security Implications of Turkey's March toward EU Membership; M.Kibaroglu The US and Turkey's Quest for EU Membership; O.Taspinar The Iraq War and the Troubled US-Turkish Alliance: Some Conclusions for Europe; O.Kayhan & D.Lindley