Turkish Industry and the Common Market

Abstract

The military regime which governed Turkey between September 1980 and December 1983 proclaimed on several occasions that, once democratic government had been restored, Turkey would submit an application for rapid accession to Community membership. In the election campaign of 1983, Mr. Turgut Özal’s Motherland Party appeared to soft-pedal the idea of immediate membership. Following the Motherland Party’s election victory, Mr. Özal’s government programme mentioned full membership only as an “ultimate aim”: in the meantime, he announced “we shall act in a spirit of considering the balance of interests as a basis at all stages”.¹ However, by the beginning of 1987, Özal’s government appeared to be sufficiently satisfied by the economic progress it had made to be preparing to submit a formal application for membership during that year. On the other hand, the government, as well as the Turkish business community, evidently realised that the process of negotia tion would be a long one, and that time would be needed to prepare the Turkish economy for accession. In fact, the year 2000 was usually mentioned as the earliest date at which this could be achieved — even assuming all the other obstacles, both political and economic, could be overcome.

This Chapter is a revised version of the author’s paper, “Turkish Industry and the EEC”, published in Orient, 26. Jahrgang (no. 2, Juni 1985), pp. 168–180.