ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the behavioural change in the normative area by analysing Turkey’s involvement in mediation and its offer of official development assistance. This chapter analyses the behavioural reflections of the formal changes adopted by Turkey in response to the EU’s demands on the peaceful settlement of disputes in the Aegean, the Cyprus issue, as well as the maintenance of good neighbourly relations. It is assumed that if Turkey has internalised these norms, it will adopt consistent behaviour and seek to contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes, not only in its own bilateral relations, but also among third parties. The data on Turkey’s mediation is collected from newspaper archives through a keyword search for synonyms of mediation, such as ‘constructive contribution’, ‘good offices’, ‘good faith’, ‘shuttle diplomacy’. This data is then analysed qualitatively in connection with discourse analysis to understand the decisiveness and the actual intentions of Turkey’s initiatives as a third-party peacemaker. This information is then supplemented by the information on Turkey’s official development assistance collected from the website of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and analysed qualitatively. The chapter then proceeds to the analysis of the directions and magnitude of change within the framework of the conditionality mechanism.
