Turkey’s Relations with the EU from a Critical Perspective: From Europhilism to Anti-Europeanism (2002–2021)

Abstract

European Union (EU)-Turkey relations have been going through a period of crisis since the opening of the accession negotiations with Turkey on 3 October 2005. Although there has long been a pattern of ups and downs in the development of these relations their current as well as future status maintains great ambiguity. Since 2006 we see a new period in these relations characterised by mutual antipathy mirrored on both sides. In this process Turkey’s accession process to the EU has become a very important tool on both sides in constructing de-constructing and re-constructing their identities. Populism has not only increasingly shaped foreign policy choices on both sides but it has also created a mutual reproduction of Self and Other. The speeches of political elites are important indicators of how these identities have been under constant construction. While the EU has become Turco-sceptic since 2006 Turkey has also become increasingly resentful and Euro-sceptic. This Euro-scepticism has most recently turned into anti-Europeanism as a tool to garner votes. In this context this chapter aims to elaborate on the question of how post-2006 developments have led to in the changing nature of Turkish foreign policy towards the EU. As the discourses of political elites are considered as projections of power the speeches of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be analysed during this period to reveal how Turkish foreign policy has become characterised by an anti-European stance. © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.