Has Turkey applied to join the European Union? If so, is it allowed?

1In September 1995, Turkey applied to the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, and was approved. 1987 In April, Turkey applied to become a full member of the European Economic Community. 199565438+February 3 1, the customs union between the European Economic Community and Turkey was formally formed, which is the first customs union with substantial significance between the European Economic Community and a third country. However, Turkey's accession to the EU was not smooth. 1In July 1996, the Dublin meeting of the European Council called on Turkey to promote the settlement of the Cyprus problem within the framework of the UN Security Council resolutions, and stressed that Turkey should abide by the highest human rights standards. 1997 12, the EU Luxembourg Summit rejected Turkey's application for membership, which is actually equivalent to rejecting Turkey's application for membership.

1999 12, the Helsinki summit of the European Union decided to recognize Turkey's candidacy, and Turkey began to enjoy the pre-accession strategic support provided by the candidates. The Helsinki summit has thus become a watershed in the relationship between the EU and Turkey. In March, 20001,the EU Council of Ministers agreed to the EU- Turkey accession partnership, and formulated short-term and medium-term plans to ensure that Turkey meets the accession criteria. The Turkish government has also taken many adaptive measures and carried out large-scale reforms in the economic, political and legal fields to meet EU standards. 20011013 October, the Turkish Parliament passed 34 constitutional amendments, including the partial abolition of the death penalty and allowing the use of languages other than Turkish in public life. At the Seville Summit in 2002, the EU reiterated that if Turkey implements the EU's political and economic standards, it will apply the same accession standards as other candidate countries. In fact, from 1995 to 2003, the Turkish Constitution was amended six times. However, at the Copenhagen Summit in 2002, 15 countries of the European Union agreed to the eastward expansion plan, including 10 candidates, but only refused to set a date for their accession negotiations with Turkey.

From June 5438 to February 2004, the EU determined the conditions for Turkey's accession. On June 3, 2005, EU countries made a compromise on Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus and started accession negotiations with Turkey. According to EU regulations, accession negotiations with candidate countries include more than 30 items, which must be recognized by all member States. Any member state can veto Turkey's membership. Since then, the two sides have held talks on industry and enterprises, financial management and statistics, trans-European network, consumers and health, intellectual property rights and company law. In response to some countries' suggestions that Turkey join the EU as soon as possible, Klaus Zegbos said: "I am opposed to giving Turkey a shortcut to join the EU. Turkey's accession negotiations must be serious, but if all the requirements of the negotiations can be met, Turkey will be granted EU membership. "

After the opening of the negotiations, Turkey strode forward with a more positive attitude. As a big European country and the core of the EU, the attitudes of Germany and France play a vital role in Turkey's accession to the EU, and Turkey has been striving for their support. However, the German and French governments have publicly stated that they do not want Turkey to become a member of the European Union, but want to establish a "special partnership" with it. "Although both Merkel and Sarkozy are flexible, changes in their respective political parties and the majority of the society will inevitably affect their positions on this issue. However, they are unwilling to be at the forefront of the issue of hindering Turkey's accession to the EU. " Klaus Zegbos said.

Copenhagen standard or Huntington standard?

When it comes to Turkey's accession to the EU, we can't help but talk about the Copenhagen standards. 1In June 1993, the Copenhagen meeting of the European Council took decisive steps for the upcoming fifth enlargement of the European Union. Its definition of membership criteria is usually called "Copenhagen criteria", that is, candidates must obtain: stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and protect and respect ethnic minorities; A well-functioning market economy, as well as coping with competitive pressures and market forces within the EU, has the ability to undertake the obligations of membership, including adhering to the goals of political, economic and monetary union. 1At the Madrid meeting of the European Council held in February 1995, the EU further stipulated the criteria for joining the EU: candidate countries must actively create conditions to adjust the state administrative structure. Equally important, it is necessary to transfer the legislation of the European Community to national legislation; More importantly, legislation should be effectively implemented through appropriate administrative and judicial structures, and it is emphasized that this is a prerequisite for mutual trust required by EU member States. "Generally speaking, every European country or country close to Europe should be strictly regarded as a member of the European Union if it can meet the Copenhagen standards." Klaus Zegbos said.

Turkey's determination to join the EU is not firm, and the adjustment measures taken in various aspects in recent years are not positive. However, the more active Turkey is, the closer it is to the "Copenhagen standard", and the voice against Turkey's accession to the EU seems to have begun to deviate from the "Copenhagen standard". "It is very sad for those countries that oppose Turkey's accession to the EU because of their domestic policies. Or the reason for their opposition is based on cultural reasons. For example, Turkey is an' Islamic society'. This does not seem to be a reasonable reason for opposition, because culture is not part of the' fundamental Hagen standard'. " Klaus Zegbos said.

So what's the problem? "Many European societies do have the problem of integration with their own Turks and Arabs. There are two aspects to this problem. At first, these countries could not provide them with enough immigration space. Now, a large number of immigrants from Turkey and Arab countries are eager to integrate into these countries. But their education level is very low, or they are illiterate at all. Based on the above considerations, many ordinary people in the EU countries are reluctant to make such authorization, so as not to cause more such people to come to their side. " Klaus Zegbos said that conservative politicians in these countries took advantage of this. "What politicians really care about may be that if Turkey obtains EU membership, it will become the second or even the first member of the EU, and will get the corresponding voting rights, which will greatly change the voting rights of these countries within the EU."