42-Year Old EU Journey at Critical Crossroads
By ALI IHSAN AYDIN
Turkey's European Union (EU) journey began with the Ankara agreement signed in 1963. If accession negotiations begin on October 3, the long period of "promise for marriage" without engagement will finally be concluded.
The engagement period, which is predicted to last 10 to 15 years, will begin, but no one knows whether this process will end in marriage. Ankara says, "Let's not water down business from the start; engagement is for marriage." EU is confused. It wants to insert the condition, "Let's remain friends if we do not marry" to the treaty.
The relations were frozen following the coup
Turkey, which preferred to stand with the West in regards to its for
eign policy following the World War II by becoming a member of the European Council in 1949 and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952, applied to the European Economic Community (EEC) for membership in 1959, during the premiership of Adnan Menderes.
The EEC accepted the membership applications of Ankara and Athens in the same year. The Ankara treaty, which is considered to be the starting point of Turkey-EU relations, was signed three years later, in 1963.
The Treaty, seen as a mark of Europe's positive answer towards Turkey's marriage offer, envisaged a three-staged process of preparation, transition and conclusion. Turkey would become a member of the EEC only after passing through these stages.
Turkey could complete the transition period, which began with the Value Added Protocol signed in 1973, with a 10 years delay, in 1995.
According to the Ankara Agreement, the transition period could last up to 12 years. The relations with the EEC followed a path with ups and downs bearing on the political developments in Turkey. EEC decided to freeze its relations with Turkey on 22 January 1982, following the military coup in Turkey.