ABSTRACT
In the Copenhagen European Council of December 12-13, 2002,1 the Eur-
opean Council had decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey ‘‘[i]f the
European Council in December 2004, on the basis of a report and a recom-
mendation from the Commission, decide[d] that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen
political criteria.’’ Therefore, the developments in 2004 were very important for
Turkey and its chance to start negotiations.
