European perspectives on Turkey's domestic politics and foreign policy / edited by Elena Baracani, Merve Çalimli

2017·1.4 MB·English

by  Baracani, Elena

CERPIC
Studies | 2
European Perspectives on
Turkey's Domestic Politics

and Foreign Policy
Edited by
Elena Baracani
Merve Çalımlı

Fondazione Bruno Kessler

European Perspectives
on Turkey’s Domestic
Politics and Foreign Policy
edited by
Elena Baracani
Merve Çalimli
Fondazione Bruno Kessler
www.fbk.eu
Composition and editing:
FBK - Editoria
EUROPEAN
perspectives on Turckey’s domestic politics and foreign policy / edited by Elena
Baracani, Merve Çalımlı. - Trento : FBK Press, 2017. - 1 testo elettronico (PDF) (136 p.) :
tab., graf. - (CERPIC studies ; 2)
Nell’occh.: Fondazione Bruno Kessler
e-ISBN 978-88-98989-35-5
1. Unione Europea e Turchia 2. Turchia - Politica interna 3. Turchia - Politica estera 4.
Turchia - Adesione all’Unione Europea I. Baracani, Elena II. Çalımlı, Merve
956.104 (DDC 22.ed) Cataloging in Publication record: FBK - Biblioteca
This volume is published with the financial support of the Department of Political and Social Sciences
of the University of Bologna and the Autonomous Province of Trento.
e-ISBN 978-88-98989-35-5
Copyright © 2017 by Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval
system—except as otherwise provided under Italian copyright law (for more information,
see http://books.fbk.eu/fbkpress/clienti/photocopies).
Table of Contents
Introduction, by Elena Baracani and Merve Çalımlı 7
Chapter 1: EU-Turkey Relations: Facilitating or Constrain-
ing Democratization?, by Elena Baracani and Merve 11
Çalımlı
Chapter 2: The EU’s Declining Transformative Capacity in
a Shifting Global Context: The Turkish Experience, by Ziya 35
Öniş and Mustafa Kutlay
Chapter 3: EU-Turkey Cooperation on Migration, by Rocco 55
Polin
Chapter 4: The Europeanization of Turkey’s Foreign Policy:
From Alignment to Misalignment?, by Serena Giusti and 73
Chiara Franco
Chapter 5: Is Democracy Promotion a Part of Turkish For- 95
eign Policy? Practices and Implications, by Merve Çalımlı
Chapter 6: Turkish Foreign Policy in the Caucasus: The 115
Azerbaijan Pillar, by Carlo Frappi
135
Notes on Contributors

Introduction 7
Elena Baracani and Merve Çalımlı
Turkey has become an increasingly important state due to its different
roles stemming from both its domestic and regional challenges. This
edited volume aims to contribute to the recent scholarly debates on
Turkey by analyzing the challenges faced by Turkey on both the inter-
nal and external level, and by reflecting on the implications of Turkey’s
multiple roles in the period following the coming to power in November
2002 of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi,
AKP). To this end, the book focuses on two main thematic research
areas: 1) Turkey’s thorny accession process to the European Union (EU)
since 1999 and the induced process of political transformation; and 2)
the increasing importance of Turkey’s cooperation with Europe to tackle
common security challenges.
In Chapter 1, Elena Baracani and Merve Çalımlı, using the concepts
of leverage and linkage, show how a combination of EU-oriented and
domestic oriented factors favored democratization in Turkey until 2007,
while since then the EU lost its leverage on Ankara. Democratization was
favorable because the costs of domestic reforms were low due to the
high credibility of EU membership and the need of the incumbent gov-
ernment to strengthen its domestic and external legitimation. However,
democratization was constrained as the credibility in EU membership
perspective and the consistency in the implementation of the pre-ac-
cession policy decreased. In addition, the increasing electoral support
for the incumbent government reduced its vulnerability to EU pressures.
In Chapter 2, Ziya Öniş and Mustafa Kutlay explore the impact of
recent multiple crises on the EU’s transformative power from a global
political economy point of view. Offering an analytical framework, based
on push-and-pull factors derived from the mutually inclusive interaction
of European-level dynamics and global transformations, this chapter
explains the declining appeal of the EU, with reference to the Turkish
8 case. The authors identify two main pull factors at the EU level. The
first factor is the poor economic performance related to the EU’s flawed
crisis management strategy. The second factor is the crisis of internal
solidarity, causing a decrease in the credibility of its commitment as a
“normative power”. This is illustrated by the paradigm shift in response
to the Arab Spring and the indecisive approach in addressing the recent
refugee crisis and the unfolding humanitarian crisis. As for the push
factors, the authors mention the identity crisis of the early and mid-
2000s due to the constitutional stalemate, the economic and financial
crises of post-2008, and the recent refugee crisis. When applied to the
Turkish case, reversing economic performance of the EU, the rise of
non-Western political economy models, and the internal solidarity crisis
of the EU resulted in decreased EU leverage over Turkey. Furthermore,
the authors emphasize that geostrategic concerns, stemming from the
Arab uprisings and the refugee crisis, intensified the decline of the
EU’s appeal over Turkey. Reflecting on the failed coup attempt in July
2016, the authors argue that the rising nationalistic and anti-Western
sentiments led to a further loss of EU appeal.
In Chapter 3, Rocco Polin offers a condensed account of the
evolution of cooperation between the EU and Turkey on migration,
with a particular focus on the year-long period lasting from mid-2015,
when an increase in migratory flows was registered at the Turkish-Greek
border, to mid-2016, after the signature of the controversial EU-Turkey
Joint Statement of March 18, 2016. The chapter argues that EU-Turkey
cooperation in the field of migration should be developed as an element
of a bigger strategic partnership, grounded in common values, as well
as in mutual interests.
In Chapter 4, Serena Giusti and Chiara Franco explore the impact
of the opening of negotiations with the EU on Turkey’s foreign policy.
Their empirical grounding suggests that while at the initial stages Turk-
ish alignment with the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was
more in line with Brussels, as the credibility of membership perspective
decreased, Turkish foreign policy orientation shifted. The authors suggest
that factors such as the authoritarian drift, the ambition to become a
regional hegemonic power, and geo-economic considerations such as
energy transit and supplies, have contributed to this shift in Turkish
alignment with the EU on CFSP.
In Chapter 5, Merve Çalımlı addresses the issue of democracy
promotion in Turkish foreign policy to explain and illustrate why Turkey