The "EU - energy - Turkey" Triangle. Does Energy really matter in Turkey's Accession Process?

Scientific Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: A, Bilkent University , course: EU policies, language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the dynamics at the core of the relation between

Turkey and the European Union (EU), in terms of energy-related issues. The prospect of

Turkey¿s accession to the EU is one of the most controversial issues affecting the wider

European political space. This essay would like to shed light on the impact of energy

considerations on Turkey¿s process of accession exploring three inter-related dimensions.

First of all, a brief account of the EU¿s patterns of energy consumption and strategies adopted

will be offered. Secondly, the relevance of Turkey as ¿energy corridor¿ linking Eastern

energy resources to Western markets will be assessed. Finally, EU member states¿ standpoints

on Turkey¿s accession will be investigated trying to isolate the impact of energy-driven

calculations. A liberal-intergovernmental approach will spell out patterns of divergence or

convergence on Turkey¿s accession evaluating the impact of the energy factor on Turkey¿s

EU eventual membership. In conclusion, this article will show whether or not energy can be

considered the determiner for Turkey¿s accession, pointing out that the ¿energy card¿ should

not be overplayed since the EU¿s acknowledgement of Turkey¿s energy strategic could not

automatically lead to full-membership.