Turkey's European Union candidacy: From Luxembourg to Helsinki ‐ to Ankara?

At the European Council's Helsinki meeting in December 1999, Turkey was accepted as a candidate for EU membership. However, many obstacles to Turkish EU membership remain. These include domestic political and economic factors, relations with Greece, and some discomfort with the prospect of the inclusion within the EU of an Islamic country. Security considerations may have played a considerable part in securing Ankara's EU policy objective. However, the demise of the cold war has offered Ankara regional alternatives to the pursuit of a European destiny. Greater Turkish involvement in its immediate neighbourhood might contribute to a distancing between Turkish and European security perspectives, paradoxically providing another potential obstacle to Turkish EU membership.

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