Turkey and European Union Relations: Concept of Customs Union

Abstract

Turkey is the only pluralist secular democracy in the Moslem world and has always targeted herself as being part of the western world and values. Turkey started to establish close economic relations with Europe by the 1963 Ankara Agreement. By 1995, Turkey abolished most of the barriers in her trade through a customs union agreement with the European Union. Customs union is widely discussed in the sense that the terms of trade between the two sides have not evolved in favour of Turkey. However evidence shows that Turkey did not experience any extreme changes in its import figures as were feared before the beginning of the agreement. As a result of customs union, economically Turkey became more advantageous than many other candidate countries despite her unhealthy economic statistics especially in the area of inflation and per capita income. Turkey would have the chance to benefit more from the customs union after it completes its ongoing economic reforms, which would bring more stability and power to the Turkish economy.