Fading credibility of the EU political conditionality and its decreasing effect on democratic consolidation: the case of Turkey

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1421151 (Table of Contents)

When Turkey started its adoption of the European Union's (EU) accession criteria for membership, an important area of the changes it adopted was in the area of freedom of speech. This thesis centres on the last ten years (2002-2011) of political reforms in Turkey respect to the freedom of speech and their relevance to the EU conditionality. As for any other candidates of the EU, also Turkish membership depends on the fulfilment of the conditions set by the EU. The conditionality is considered one of the most important strategies of the EU in promoting rule of law, human rights and democracy. Yet, because the dynamics of Turkey- EU relationship have been changing- it is possible to argue that the EU conditionality has been losing its credibility from the Turkish perspective. The issue of Cyprus, the role of veto players such as France and Germany hinder the willingness of Turkey to comply with the EU requirements. The disappointment of Turkey about the accession negotiations because of the ever-closing chapters caused Turkey to be less enthusiastic about the whole European project. This thesis claims that when the credibility of the EU declines, so does the effect of the EU political conditionality on consolidating democracy. This argument is investigated through the case of Turkey.