Interacting Actors: The EU and Civil Society in Turkey

Civil society organisations in Turkey have remained highly visible in the country's relations with the European Union (EU). Given the particular incentives that the EU offered for the empowerment of civil society actors during the pre-accession process, it has often been assumed that the EU context played an important role in this vibrant situation. However, this article argues that the EU's impact was highly ambivalent, and the contribution of civil society organisations to the EU membership process was frequently indecisive. It concludes that this ambivalent climate is mostly due to various aspects of the ill-functioning mechanisms of the EU's enlargement regime, on one hand, and particular problems inherited from the state-society relations and socio-political culture in Turkey that are associated with the civil society arena in the country.