page_title: Potential enlargement of the European Union
section_title: Turkey
hierarchical_section_title: Potential enlargement of the European Union / Current agenda / Turkey
caption_attribution_description: English: Reverted to version as of 23:18, 17 February 2020
context_page_description: There are five recognised candidates for membership of the European Union: Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Serbia. All have started accession negotiations. Kosovo, whose independence is not recognised by five EU member states, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are recognised as potential candidates for membership by the EU. Bosnia and Herzegovina has formally submitted an application for membership, while Kosovo has a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, which generally precedes the lodging of membership application. Serbia and Montenegro, the most advanced candidates, are both expected to join no earlier than 2022, with 2025 being more likely. While the others are progressing, Turkish talks are at an effective standstill.
  The accession criteria are included in the Copenhagen criteria, agreed in 1993, and the Treaty of Maastricht. Article 49 of the Maastricht Treaty says that any "European state" that respects the "principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law", may apply to join the EU. Whether a country is European or not is subject to political assessment by the EU institutions.
context_section_description: Turkey's candidacy to join the EU has been a matter of major significance and considerable controversy since it was granted in 1999. Turkey has had historically close ties with the EU, having an association agreement since 1964, being in a customs union with the EU since 1995 and initially applying to join in 1987. Only after a summit in Brussels on 17 December 2004 (following the major 2004 enlargement), the European Council announced that membership negotiations with Turkey were officially opened on 3 October 2005.
  Turkey is the thirteenth largest economy in the world, and is a key regional power. In 2006, Carl Bildt, Swedish foreign minister, stated that "[The accession of Turkey] would give the EU a decisive role for stability in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which is clearly in the strategic interest of Europe."
  However others, such as former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, maintain an opposition to Turkey's membership. Opponents argue that Turkey does not respect the key principles that are expected in a liberal democracy, such as the freedom of expression. Turkey's large population would also alter the balance of power in the representative European institutions. Upon joining the EU, Turkey's 83 million inhabitants would bestow it the second largest number of MEPs in the European Parliament. Demographic projections indicate that Turkey would surpass Germany in the number of seats by 2020. Turkey also does not recognise one EU state, Cyprus, over the Cyprus dispute and the Cypriot government blocks some chapters of Turkey's talks.
  Turkey's relations with the EU have seriously deteriorated in the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and subsequent purges. On 24 November 2016 the European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution calling for the "temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey" over human rights and rule of law concerns. On 13 December, the European Council (comprising the heads of state or government of the member states) resolved that it would open no new areas in Turkey's membership talks in the "prevailing circumstances", as Turkey's path toward autocratic rule made progress on EU accession impossible. As of 2017, and especially following Erdoğan's victory in the constitutional referendum, Turkish accession talks are effectively at a standstill.
caption: EU countries in green with Turkey shown in orange
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