Turkey and the European Union: The Domestic Politics of Negotiating Pre-Accession

Turkey is facing massive challenges as a funclion of its aspiration to join the Ell. In November 2000, the Ell adopted the Accession Partnership Document, which listed the rejimns that Turkey was expected to adopt to be able to meet the Copenhagen political criteria. In the midst of these challenges, slowly but surely the EU and Turkey are moving closer together. How can one explain the political process that has brought Turkey, after four decades of membership aspirations, to the very gates of EU membership? This essay will argue that the process was primarily driven by a long and bitter process of "negotiation" between advocates and opponents of membership within Turkey, on the one hand, and between a range of Turkish "negotiators or players" and their EU counterparts, on the other.