Public support for European Union membership in Turkey between 2005-2014

Within the discussion of EU relations of Turkey, it is clear that until recent the importance of public opinion and its formation have been neglected from related research. Although the existent research deals with individual level factors shaping public opinion, this thesis proposes an alternative approach that public opinion formation is highly related to political cues that are provided from certain government institutions and political elite, among other determinants of national economic growth, tendency to trust in the national government and parliament. The decline in public support in Turkey regarding EU membership has been analyzed and tendencies within the period of 2005-2014 are presented in order to provide explanations to the association of the public opinion formation to the related propositions. In order to observe the relation of external and internal factors regarding policy formation of the political elite, the historical background of Turkish membership project to EU has been touched upon, and related political discourses have been analyzed to correlate public opinion formation to elite messages in the respective period. In doing this, the thesis aims to contribute to public opinion analyses of Turkey regarding EU membership process, while embracing Eurobarometer public opinion surveys from 2005 to 2014.