"Turkey's 'diyet' for the EU?
Huseyin Bagci
bagci@metu.edu.tr
When Turkey was declared as the candidate for EU membership in 1999, Turkish political circles and intellectuals were relieved and the public support for the EU membership reached the top level of nearly 75 percent. Indeed, it was considered as the success of the European common sense and rationality that Turkey was now considered an indispensable part of the future Europe. A "honeymoon" or a "second spring" in the relations started. Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit did fly to Finland to be on the picture of the European leaders. Then, the Turkish politicians launched a very strong reform process to catch up with the expectations of the EU. Everyone was happy and even Greece was much more helpful, partly due to its new foreign minister, George Papandreou who replaced less-friendly Evangelos Pangalos."
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