Historical Evolution of Turkey's Europeanization Process

This book significantly aims to explain the concept of 'Europeanization' and analyze the historical evolution of Turkey's Europeanization process. The book also tries to shed a light on how Turkey adapted herself to this process on the way of full membership to the European Union (EU). As a result of this process, this work basically underlines the reformation process of Turkey through the crucial harmonization packages and various constitutional amendments concerning democracy, the rule of law, human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of expression and the protection of minorities. In this context, civilianization and democratization process of the Turkish political system in terms of ‘Europeanization’ has been gradually developed, thus, this process has been essentially beneficial for Turkey in all respects. At the same time, the European Commission’s regular progress reports towards the Turkish accession process are used as a primary source in order to monitor the democratic developments made in Turkey on the road to EU accession. The framework proposed to study the Turkish case is intended to contribute to the knowledge of Europeanization and Turkey-EU relations.

Sezer Özcan is a PhD candidate in Political Science, Bielefeld University. He has finished his B.A. at International Relations, Uludag University (2007). He has obtained his MA degree in the field of Political Science/Security-Defense, Catholic University of Portugal (2010). His main interest areas are Turkey, the EU, Security, Energy, Middle East.