EU-Turkey relations [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

Relations between the European Union and Turkey gained new momentum last month with an agreement aimed at addressing the migration crisis. One element of the deal is that Turkey shall take back migrants who cross to Greece illegally. The EU would accept Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and compensate it with financial aid, early visa-free travel and further progress in accession talks.

The intention of the agreement is to ease pressure on the borderless Schengen area. Yet some critics say the EU should not be forging closer ties with Turkey at a time when its regime seems to become increasingly authoritarian in the areas of freedom and expression and assembly. The European Commission’s recent report on Turkey, discussed by the European Parliament on 13 April, calls on Turkey to lift restrictions on media freedom and to stop political interference into the judiciary.

This note offers links to recent commentaries and reports from major international think tanks on relations between the EU and Turkey, as well as on political developments in that country. More studies on the topic can be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are thinking’.

EU-Turkey relations

Making the EU-Turkey refugee deal work
Bruegel, April 2016

Turkey: Towards a new relationship?
Clingendael, March 2016

Elements of a complex but still incomplete puzzle: An assessment of the EU(-Turkey) summit
European Policy Centre, March 2016

Turkey, the European Union and the refugee crisis: A story of multiple failures
Friends of Europe, March 2016

Turkey and the EU: A new path toward a shared security policy
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, March 2016

The EU-Turkey deal: Fair and feasible?
European Council on Foreign Relations, March 2016

Refugee crisis: For rationality in relations with Turkey
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, March 2016

EU-Turkey plan for handling refugees is fraught with legal and procedural challenges
Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2016

The silver lining to the EU-Turkey migration deal
Brookings Institution, March 2016

EU-Turkey summit on the refugee crisis: Law and (dis)order?
European Policy Centre, March 2016

EU−Turkey refugee deal is vulnerable to legal challenge
Chatham House, March 2016

Europe’s refugee/migrant crisis: Can ‘illiberal’ Turkey save ‘liberal Europe’ while helping Syrian refugees?
European Policy Centre, February 2016

New dynamics for EU-Turkey relations
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, February 2016

The EU-Turkey deal on refugees: How to move forward
Polish Institute of International Affairs, January 2016

A new episode in EU-Turkey relations: Why so much bitterness
German Marshal Fund, December 2015

Scientific cooperation between the European Union and Turkey: Advantages and possible synergies
Centre for Economic and Regional Studies HAS, Institute of World Economics, November 2015

Turkey’s 10 years of EU accession negotiations: No end in sight
Real Instituto Elcano, October 2015

State, crisis and politicization of economic policymaking: Reflections from Hungary and Turkey
Center for Policy Studies, December 2015

Sophie’s choice for the European Union: Realpolitik or values? Inshallah both
Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, October 2015

From blame game to cooperation: EU-Turkey response to the Syrian refugee crisis
Polish Institute of International Affairs, October 2015

Turkey’s evolving migration policies: a Mediterranean transit stop at the doors of the EU
Istituto Affari Internazionali, September 2015

Designing a new EU-Turkey strategic gas partnership
Bruegel, July 2015

Other studies on Turkey

Urban refugees: the experiences of Syrians in Istanbul
Istanbul Policy Center, February 2016

Turkey’s political direction: Authoritarianism, liberal democracy or dissolution?
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, January 2015

State, crisis and politicization of economic policymaking: reflections from Hungary and Turkey
Center for Policy Studies, December 2015

Re-educating Turkey-AKP efforts to promote religious values in Turkish schools
Center for America Progress, December 2015

Nach den Wahlen – eine “Neue Türkei”?
Österreichische Institut für Internationale Politik, December 2015

Turkey, the Kurds and the fight against Islamic State
European Council on Foreign Relations, September 2015

On the KRG, the Turkish-Kurdish peace process, and the future of the Kurds
Istituto Affari Internazionali, July 2015

The return of the Kurdish question: On the situation of the Kurds in Iraq, Syria and Turkey
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, July 2015