| The EU opened accession negotiations with Turkey officially on 3 October 2005. This meant that all the member states within the Union accepted the starting of Turkey's accession negotiations, which should lead to full membership. There have been many concerns over Turkey's membership such as Turkey's human rights record, freedom of expression, minority rights, corruption, the Cyprus issue, and most of all the role of Turkish army in the state. However, there has been a huge progress in all these areas maybe except for the Cyprus issue.; The European Commission in its reports has mentioned Turkey's progress. This progress would not have been evident without the membership incentive from the Union. The EU, in its each enlargement, had many objectives but the most important one was restoring democracy in candidate countries; therefore, providing stability in those countries and, as a result, in Europe as a whole. The EU has spent a lot of money to assist candidate countries through the Instruments of Pre-Accession (IPA) that includes Turkey.; The main obstacles to accession for Turkey are not economic, but rather political and cultural. We can easily compare Romania, a new member of the Union, with Turkey in economic terms and we could see many similarities. Both countries' agricultural sector is enormous. However, one could enter the EU and the other is still in the negotiating process and its adhesion cannot be guaranteed. Here we clearly see double standards. Including Turkey in the Union could turn EU into a more active international actor in places that usually the US has had more involvements. However, the EU might not be willing to assume such a responsibility, meaning having borders with one of the most fragile regions in the world (Middle East). Some EU members have proposed 'a privileged partnership' with Turkey. However, it seems that Turkey feels already privileged enough with regards to its relation with the EU considering all the agreements both parties signed before Turkey's candidacy.; In spite of all the concerns, the EU is still negotiating with the Turkish government, and the AKP party is determined to fulfill the conditions proposed by the EU for membership. |
