Human Rights Conditionality of the European Union

Turkey, as a country desiring to find acceptance as a European state since its establishment, has been subject to human rights conditionality of the EU since the beginning of the relations with Turkey's application to join the Community as an associate member in 1959. This book aims to explain the dynamic of the human rights conditionality -which has also evolved over time- in the EU-Turkey relations. From the beginning of the EU-Turkey relations, for each period (pre-Helsinki period, post-Helsinki period and the period after the opening up of accession negotiations), the conflict issues as regards human rights, the EU's approach and Turkey's response in terms of human rights reforms to meet the EU's human rights conditions are scrutinized. By doing so, the book also explores to what extent and under which circumstances, the EU as an external force has affected domestic reform process in Turkey and identifies the deficiencies of the EU's human rights conditionality approach towards Turkey which have become obstacles for the EU to be a more powerful anchor for human rights progress in Turkey.