Conceptual Analysis of Europeanization/EU-ization/De-Europeanization and the Historical Background of Türkiye–EU Relations

This chapter is based on the historical background of the perception of Turkish identity in the EP and is presented under three sections by giving the conceptual analysis of Europeanization, EU-ization, and de-Europeanization, which are different periods that Türkiye has gone through. In this framework, the first section deals with the Europeanization period of Türkiye until 1997 and the literature review compiled from studies investigating the perception of Turkish identity in the EP. The second section is also based on the literature review compiled from studies investigating the perception of Türkiye in the EP, along with the Europeanization and the EU-ization periods observed in Türkiye during the period 1997–2007. However, the third section deals with the controversy among scholars on the starting year of the de-Europeanization period in Türkiye, the concept of de-Europeanization, and the events after 2007, as well as compiling the studies that search the perception of European identity in Turkish Parliament. Concerning the impact of all the events on the Turkish political elites’ perception of European identity and, thus, how de-Europeanization was discursively constructed in the Turkish Parliament after 2007, many similarities and differences that emerge with Turkish perception in the EP are revealed.