Different Factors Stressed By Different Actors: EU Enlargement Policy and U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Turkey

This thesis studies the differences between the European Union's (EU's) Enlargement Policy toward Turkey and the United States' (U.S.'s) Foreign Policy toward Turkey. Both actors have a strong relationship with Turkey but for different reasons. Turkey is a candidate country to the EU and is in the process of accession negotiations. It is also a key ally to the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners and its secular while Muslim identity, location, use as an energy transport route, and strong democracy make Turkey particularly important. In this thesis I argue that enlargement policy and foreign policy toward Turkey are shaped by three factors, geostrategic interests, culture, and economics, but the EU and U.S. place different stress on each factor. This is based on distinctions between the EU and U.S. including that enlargement policy consists of external, internal, and bilateral elements whereas foreign policy only includes external and bilateral elements. The EU approach toward Turkey via enlargement policy focuses strongly on all three factors: geostrategic interests, culture, and economics. Each factor is analyzed with respect to Turkey by each EU member-state, making member-states' decisions dependent on how membership will affect Turkey (externally), how Turkey will affect the EU as a whole (internally) and how Turkey will affect the member-states themselves (bilaterally). However, the U.S. foreign policy approach toward Turkey is constructed mainly on geostrategic interests. This difference in the factors shaping enlargement policy and foreign policy is rooted in a distinction between the EU and U.S.: while Turkey could possibly accede to the EU, making it a full member of the Union, no such membership could ever be attained with the U.S