SETA Foundation at Washington DC Presents:
HAS TURKEY "LOST" EUROPE?
The Ankara-Brussels Relationship after Five Years of Accession Negotiations
Juliette Tolay (University of Delaware)
F. Stephen Larrabee (RAND Cooperation)
Nuh Yilmaz (SETA Foundation)
Moderator: Kadir Ustun (SETA Foundation)
Organized by: Farina Ahaeuser (SETA Foundation)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
2:00-4:00 pm
SETA DC Conference Room
1025 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Suite 1106
Washington, D.C. 20036
President Barack Obama expressed his concern about the deteriorating EU-Turkey relations and the uncertain future of Ankara’s EU membership aspiration. If Turkish people “do not feel part of the European family,” he said,“ then obviously they are going to look elsewhere for alliances and affiliations.” These comments echoed an often voiced argument among U.S. policy-makers: Brussels’ persistent hesitancy, if not explicit rejection, to offer Ankara a proper seat has contributed to Turkey’s estrangement with the West. Ankara’s recent rift with Israel, its “ no” vote on the UN sanctions against Iran, and its increasing engagement with neighbors in the Middle East – all these are considered unmistakable manifestations of the fact that the EU and the U.S. have lost one of their most reliable and strategically important partners.
After five years of negotiations, only thirteen out of thirty-five chapters have been opened. In an attempt to reaffirm the EU’ s commitment to Turkey, the European Commission's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, went to Istanbul in July 2010, announcing that negotiations on a new accession chapter will be opened. Can the European Union and Turkey revive their partnership? Does Turkey’ s new foreign policy line and growing self-assertiveness provide a burden or an asset for its membership aspirations? What role can the United States play to push forward and ensure that Turkey is firmly anchored in Europe?
Juliette Tolay; is a fellow at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund in Washington DC, where she conducts research on Turkish foreign policy. She is also a doctoral student in political science and international relations at the University of Delaware. A French national, Juliette has completed her B.A. and M.A. at Science Po in Paris. She is the 2010 recipient of the first prize of the Sakip Sabanci International Research Award for a paper on multiculturalism in Turkey.
F. Stephen Larrabee holds the Corporate Chair in European Security at the RAND Corporation. He served on the National Security Council staff in the Carter Administration and has been Director of Studies at the Institute for East-West Security Studies in New York. He is a frequent commentator and has published extensively on U.S.-Turkey relations and transatlantic issues. He holds a PhD in political science and international affairs from Columbia University.
Nuh Yilmaz is the Director of SETA Foundation at Washington D.C. He has widely published on Turkey’s new foreign policy orientations, Turkish politics, energy security, Turkish-American relations, and is a frequent commentator for the Turkish media on these topics. Nuh Yilmaz is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at George Mason University’s Cultural Studies Program. He currently serves as the Washington Bureau Chief for Turkish TV channel, ATV. His comments and commentaries have been featured by major media outlets including BBC, Washington Times, Al-Jazeera Arabic and English, and Foreign Policy.