Common agricultural policy : Turkey's harmonisation

This thesis is a study on Turkey’s harmonization with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP is the first policy of the EU which covers approximately 44% of the EU budget. Since the early days of its adoption, the CAP keeps Member States’ agriculture under one common framework. Since 1959, Turkey’s application date for associate membership, Turkey’s EU vocation has been going on by affecting the agricultural sector in Turkey. It was after long years that in 1999 at the Helsinki Summit of the EU, Turkey was declared a candidate state. At this point it is obvious that during the accession negotiations, Turkey’s adaptation to the EU acquis regarding the agricultural chapter will be one of the determining factors of her EU membership. That is why a set of reforms have been introduced in the agricultural sector of Turkey. The aims of this thesis are to evaluate Turkey’s harmonisation with the CAP and to designate that the agricultural chapter of the acquis should not be a preventative factor for Turkey on her EU vocation. In this respect the evolution of Turkish agriculture in line with the CAP will be touched upon and a comparative study will be provided to illustrate Turkish agriculture’s conformity to the CAP.