Turkey - EU Relations in the shade of the Middle East : The Arab Spring - Is it an inception of a rupture between Turkey and the West?

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and describe the effects of the Middle East policies of Turkey and the European Union on mutual relations between the two actors with particular focus on the Arab Spring and its repercussions on regional stability and international relations. The key components of Turkey's foreign policy are analyzed from the perspectives of EU-Turkey relations and political stances of Turkey and the European Union towards the Middle East. Analysis of Turkey's and the EU's responses to the uprisings and their impact on the situation in the region is an important part of the study. The conclusions of this study confirm that the strategic cooperation between the EU and Turkey and the necessity of compensating each other's relative weaknesses in order to achieve similar foreign policy goals in the concerned region after the Arab Spring led to a rapprochement between the two actors. However, a direct influence of this rapprochement on the negotiation process regarding the future Turkish membership in the EU has not yet been observed. Key words Turkey, the European Union, Turkey-EU relations, negotiation process, the Middle East, MENA, foreign politics, the Arab Spring