An asset or liability: Turkey's potential in availing EU global actorness

Abstract

By focusing on the question of actorness first, this chapter builds on the textual analysis of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) sections of European Commission Progress Reports on Turkey and it examines Turkish perspectives on European Union (EU) actorness by presenting a thorough discussion on Turkey's alignment with EU's CFSP. As the analysis reveals, contradictory to the asymmetrical relationship between the EU and Turkey, Turkey's alignment with the Union's foreign policy remained only selective, meaning that Turkey was deliberately not aligning with all common positions, sanctions and statements. In this respect, the analysis sketches a link between Turkey's alignment to CFSP and EU actorness, and it argues the reasons for low level of alignment in Turkey. Lastly, it is highlighted in this chapter that Turkey could have played a critical role in strengthening and projecting a common foreign policy through which the EU would exercise regional and global actorness.