Accession of Turkey to the European Union

This article is about accession negotiations process. For the broad perspective on relations between the European Union and Turkey, see European Union–Turkey relations.

Accession of Turkey to the European Union
StatusFrozen negotiations
Application
Membership application14 April 1987
Screened & negotiations commence
Chapters closed
Memberships & Treaties
Association Agreement
Economic and monetary policy
Travel
Energy
Foreign and military policy
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)18 February 1952
Human rights and international courts
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Impact (27+1)
Population446,828,803527,863,413
(+18.70%)
Area4,233,262 km2
1,634,472 mi2		5,164,938
(+17.88%)
HDI0.896
GDP (PPP)$25.399 trillion
GDP per capita (PPP)$56,928
GDP$17.818 trillion20,253
(+13.90%)
GDP per capita$39,940
Gini30.0
Official Languages2425
(+1) (Turkish)
This article is part of a series about the
Turkey in Europe
Turkey and the European Union
Turkish Institutions for EU Affairs
Turkish–European Integration
Foreign and Military Policies
Economic
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Sports
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Turkey is negotiating its accession to the European Union (EU) as a member state, following its application to become a full member of the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the EU, on 14 April 1987.[1]

After the ten founding members in 1949, Turkey became one of the first new members (the 13th member) of the Council of Europe in 1950.[2][3] The country became an associate member of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1963 and was an associate member of the Western European Union from 1992 to its end in 2011. Turkey signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki summit of the European Council.

Negotiations for full membership were started on 3 October 2005.[4] Progress was slow: out of the 35 chapters necessary to complete the accession process, only 16 had been opened and one had been closed by May 2016.[5] The early 2016 refugee deal between Turkey and the European Union was intended to accelerate negotiations after previous stagnation and allow visa-free travel through Europe for Turks.[6]

Since 2016, accession negotiations have stalled.[7] The EU has accused and criticized Turkey for human rights violations and deficits in rule of law.[8] In 2017, EU officials said that the strong presidency created by the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum would violate the Copenhagen criteria of eligibility for an EU membership.[9]

On 20 February 2019, a European parliament committee voted to suspend the accession talks, sparking criticism from the government of Turkey.[10][11][12] Turkey's accession negotiations have therefore effectively come to a standstill and no further chapters can be considered for opening or closing and no further work towards the modernisation of the EU-Turkey Customs Union is foreseen.[13][14][15][16][17]

On 30 January 2023, the Table of Six (then-main opposition alliance) in Turkey released a memorandum of understanding for common policies. It re-affirmed the opposition's intent to continue the EU accession talks if they were to be elected in that year's elections.[18][19] It is one of nine current EU candidate countries, together with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine.


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  1. ^ "EU-Turkey relations". EurActiv.com. 23 September 2004. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Turkey joins". Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 23 June 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Turkey – Member state". Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2019. Turkey became the 13th member State of the Council of Europe on 13 April 1950.
  4. ^ "Interview with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on BBC Sunday AM" (PDF). European Commission. 15 October 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 November 2006. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  5. ^ Phinnemore, David; İçener, Erhan (14 May 2016). "Never mind Brexit scaremongering – Turkey is a long way from joining the EU". blogs.lse.ac.uk. LSE. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  6. ^ Kingsley, Patrick; Rankin, Jennifer (8 March 2016). "EU-Turkey refugee deal – Q&A". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  7. ^ ""Turkey is no longer an EU candidate", MEP says". Euro News. 10 April 2017. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference March2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "New clashes likely between Turkey, Europe". Al-Monitor. 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference end1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference end2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "European Neighbourhood Policy And Enlargement Negotiations – European Commission: Turkey". European Commission. 2 December 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2020. the General Affairs Council decided in June 2018 that accession negotiations with Turkey are effectively frozen.
  16. ^ "Parliament wants to suspend EU accession negotiations with Turkey" (Press release). European Parliament. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Chronology Of Turkey-European Union Relations (1959–2019)" (PDF). Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Directorate for EU Affairs. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020. February 20: European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee agreed on a draft resolution that calling for the suspension of EU accession negotiations with Turkey.
  18. ^ "Ortak Politikalar Mutabakat Metni" (PDF). Ankara: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi. 30 January 2023. p. 230. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  19. ^ Aydınlık (30 January 2023). "Altılı Masanın "Ortak Politikalar Mutabakat Metni" açıklandı!". Aydınlık (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.