مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO PRIVILEGED PARTNERSHIP: IS TURKEY REALLY DIFFERENT?

Abstract :

‘Privileged Partnership’ is a special status supported by a group of European leaders as an ultimate solution for Turkey’s integration into the European Union. Although its definition and content remains vague, privileged partnership is a third way of engagement which is something less than full membership and more than regular partnership. This article suggests that the most significant question in order to justify European intentions behind this proposal is to ask if Turkey is really that much different from existing EU member states so that a brand new status needs to be formulated for Turkish enlargement. The research will be based on a comparative study among Turkey and two groups of ‘dissimilar’ EU member states including new members from Central and Eastern Europe as well as founders of the European integration. A multidimensional and integrated framework will be used and a number of relevant indicators in demographic, political, economic, social and security aspects of Turkey and the selected EU members will be analyzed. Finally, the aim of this study is to clarify whether Turkey is substantially different from the ‘old’ as well as ‘new’ EU members and therefore ‘privileged partnership’ can be justified on rational grounds or whether the proposal of ‘privileged partnership’ is based on normative factors and it is an indicator of the EU’s bias against Turkey’s full membership due to cultural and religious differences.