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Abstract
Turkish-European Union relations, in terms of identity, are in need of reassessment. They represent a microcosm of the more general crisis the EU is currently facing. An EU identity is still in the process of construction. The undetermined nature of the process of integration and the EU's own identity crisis are at the root of questions surrounding Turkey's ‘Europeanness’. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the debates in Europe around whether Turkey is European or not. It approaches this by exploring the various historical projects that aimed to unify Europe. It concludes that the answer to questions surrounding Turkey's identity is intimately connected with how the EU conceptualises its own identity.
Acknowledgements
This article is based on a conference paper, presented in the Second Pan-European Conference on EU Politics organised by ECPR – Standing Group on the European Union in Bologna, Italy (June 2004). Special thanks to Burc Besgul who read and commented on an earlier draft of this paper; and Assoc. Prof. Ayhan Kaya and Prof. Hakan Yılmaz for their invaluable comments during our presentation.