How "black" is the black sheep compared to all others? Turkey and the EU
Semih Akçomak & Saeed Parto
#2006-024
In this paper we question the validity of the arguments against Turkey's
membership of the EU and challenge the political wisdom of excluding
Turkey from Europe. First, we argue that fundamental European values are
not as uniform as they are made out to be. There are significant
differences among the member states and the different European regions
on basic values relating to religion and democracy. Second, we argue
that many of Turkey's supposed cultural differences with the rest of
Europe are in fact unsubstantiated. We support our arguments by
analyzing widely available macroeconomic evidence and the data from the
European Values Study, 1999 (EVS99).
Keywords: Turkey, EU, Institutions, Institutional Analysis, Values, EVS
JEL codes: A13, Z12, Z13