ABSTRACT
Turkey is in the midst of a process of democratization. The political regime that emerged after the 1980 coup d’état produced a defective democracy of an illiberal and tutelary nature. Since the first elections held after the coup in 1983, Turkey has undergone important transformations during which – for both internal and external reasons – the regime’s democratization process has advanced. The most important of the external causes, of course, is Turkey’s candidacy for EU membership, which was solidly promoted by the 1999 Helsinki European Council, resulting in the opening of negotiations between Ankara and Brussels in October 2005. The EU’s influence has been notable, especially because it came to serve as a catalyst at a specific point in time for a broad political and social spectrum, contributing to a consensus in favour of far-reaching political reforms. Turkey’s candidacy to the EU and the need to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria fostered a deeper overall review of the Turkish political system. Until that time, advances in democratization had been characterised by piecemeal reforms.
