Turkey in Europe: The Imperative for Change

The third report of the Independent Commission on Turkey, analyzes what is necessary for progress in EU-Turkey relations under present circumstances. The report includes an analysis of the developments and major incidents in EU and Turkey, in addition to the significant milestones in Turkey’s EU accession process in the relevant period. Drawing attention to the fact that no new chapter was opened in Turkey’s accession talks between June 2010 and October 2013, the report concludes that the stalling of Turkey’s accession process was not exclusively due to the EU; Turkey also shared part of the responsibility. The report underlines that change is an imperative under these conditions and calls on both Turkey and the EU to pursue a re-energised accession process.