Paper Titles & Abstracts

The last decade witnessed the rise of Turkey as an assertive regional power on the basis of its growing economy, strenghening democracy and young population. In addition to improvement of its political and economic links with its neighbouring countries, Turkey has been engaging actively with global problems and gaining international influence. In this sense, Turkey's G-20 membership, its non-permanent seat in UN Security Council for 2009-2010 and its active role in Organisation for Islamic Cooperation has strengthened Turkey's global leverage in international organisations recently. Recently, Turkey has become a donor country with its allocation of around $ 1 billion ODA in a year. Besides, Turkey's global reach has extended to the sub-Saharan Africa with the opening of around 30 new embassies. While Turkey has been deepening its engagement with global issues, the EU has undergone a significant reform process that gave rise to the Lisbon Treaty and the establishment of European External Action Service. Similar to Turkey's bid for being an internation player, The EU seeks to strengthen its presence and visibility in international politics. Despite the commonality of Turkey and EU's bid for strengthening their influence in global politics, the EU and Turkey as an accession country rarely cooperate on global issues. Owing the loss of momentum in Turkish accession negotiations after 2007, Turkey has positioned itself with other emerging powers, rather than the EU. Moreover, the new established EEAS has indicated little interest in cooperation and coordination with Turkey on global issues. Therefore, Turkey and the EU has been missing the opportunity to assert themselves together on global matters. Revival of accession negotiations and the building of coordination and cooperation mechanisms between Turkey and the EU on global issues will be beneficial for both sides.