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Turkey's futures with the European Union has never looked so uncertain. Turkey's relations with the European Union are at a stalemate, with accession negotiations effectively frozen. Yet, Turkey and the EU have a high degree of functional cooperation, where Turkey complies with the EU acquis. Turkey's opting into the EU acquis in multiple policy areas, where its voluntary compliance-prior to or an alternative to accession, could be conceptualized as external differentiated integration. Turkey adjusts itself to the EU rules on foreign policy, customs union, Schengen regime, development policy to name a few. This paper looks at the varying degrees of Turkish compliance into the EU acquis, and proposes that Turkey will remain an integral part of the European integration. ; This Paper is part of the InDivEU project which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 822304. The content of this document represents only the views of the InDivEU consortium and is its sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

"The European Neighbourhood Policy" published on by Oxford University Press.

Turkey has always been one of the key players in the EU's periphery, in terms of its economic capabilities, geographical position and political significance. While the EU's stance towards Turkey has been ambivalent over recent decades, Turkey, nonetheless, plays an important role both regionally and globally: one that the EU cannot overlook. This paper looks at the evolution of the EU's role in transforming Turkey into a European borderland with rule and norm transfers in multiple areas. It then proceeds to an analysis of the shifting dynamics of dependence and the resulting lack of a power asymmetry between the EU and Turkey, as factors that limited this rule transfer, especially after 2008. To do so, the paper analyses the historical evolution of this relationship, the EU's role in Turkish political reforms, and the degree to which the EU's role altered within the confines of the accession process. The paper addresses first the EU's rule transfer to Turkey in political terms, and identifies the significant blocs in that process with regards to the declining attractiveness of the EU as an economic magnet. Second, the paper analyses the economic aspects of the EU's rule transfer within the confines of the Turkish-EU association and the shifting dynamics of dependence. The paper provides empirical proof with regards to Turkish adaptation to the EU's technical rules as part and parcel of the accession process. It takes note of the limits of the EU's power to transfer its rules to its periphery, when there is no major asymmetry of power, as in the Turkish case, and when the credibility of the accession process is low. While the changing asymmetries of economic and military power and shifting dynamics of dependence feature in the paper as the main factors limiting the EU's capacity for rule and norm transfer to Turkey, it is, nonetheless, important to note that the EU influenced significant political and economic transformation in the country. The paper, then, investigates the expansion of the EU's functional, political and legal rules to Turkey on the one hand, and uncovers the role that power dynamics might play in Turkish adaptation to these norms on the other. As a result, this analysis of Turkish-EU relations provides a glimpse into the EU's role in its periphery, and its ability to transform the periphery into a European borderland by means of the export of its rules and norms. ; Funded by the European Research Council (ERC) within the 7th Framework Programme, the BORDERLANDS project is hosted at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, and directed by Professor Raffaella A. Del Sarto.

Since 2007, there seems to be a re-shuffling of economic and political strength between the great powers of the previous period and the challengers, altering the global landscape. One such player aspiring to be one of the new global powers is Turkey. This does not seem a far fetched goal given Turkey's impressive economic clout, as the 15th largest economy in the world, its military capabilities and its geostrategic position. This paper proposes that even though, China, India, Russia, Brazil are counted upon as the main challengers to international status, Turkey acquired a new position within this group of newly emerging global players. This paper investigates whether Turkey has become one of the key actors in reshaping global dynamics, and if so what kind of an impact it would have on global and regional balances of power.