Kemalism meets the Copenhagen Criteria : the emergence of Neo-Kemalism

Abstract

Turkey’s long-drawn-out journey came to another turning point after getting 3 October 2005 as a date for the launch of accession talks with the European Union. This decision made by the Union on 17 December 2004 was an upshot of huge steps taken by subsequent Turkish governments in terms of transforming its democracy so as to comply with the Copenhagen criteria. This wave of democratization inevitably has raised questions about the fate of Kemalism, which has been largely penetrated by these reforms. When these reforms are coupled with some allegations both from the EU and from within Turkey as being a barrier to Turkey’s EU membership, it became inevitable to put Kemalism and its fate into interrogation. This thesis aims to answer the question of how and why prevalent interpretation of Kemalism is being strained by the EU conditionality that permeates fundamentals of Kemalism.