Introduction

Abstract

At the end of the 1990s, the French political scientist Dominique Moisi (1999) used the phrase ‘soul-searching’ to describe Europe’s quest for identity in an era of rapid change. The Eastern enlargement, the latest round of Treaty reform and, more recently, the Euro crisis have all significantly fuelled the drive to define Europe’s identity and where it is heading. The question of Turkish accession to the European Union (EU) provides an ideal case to assess the essence of this ‘soul-searching’ in the EU. Turkey’s relations with the EU officially dates back to 1959, when Turkey applied for associate membership in the European Economic Community (EEC). Despite the long history, the relationship has been a thorny one. Economic and political instability in Turkey set the slow and unsteady pace of relations over the following four decades. Turkey was then officially declared as a candidate country destined to join the EU at the December 1999 European Council Summit in Helsinki. Although accession negotiations between the EU and Turkey began in October 2005, the outcome seems to be uncertain.¹