ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the overall findings and the implications of this research for the literature. Most importantly, Turkey’s policy divergence from the EU does not indicate a complete absence of cooperation. Informal foreign policy interaction continued, and therefore can continue, in the absence of progress in EU membership negotiations. The foreign policy relationship therefore has become a somewhat separate area of interaction that requires further attention. In most cases, there was information exchange between EU and Turkish officials regarding the developments in the region. Also, the Arab uprisings marked a turning point in the foreign policy relationship because the EU frequently needed Turkish cooperation rather than the other way around. This chapter concludes that there is much more to the relationship than the framework of membership negotiations as foreign policy cooperation is becoming the cornerstone of the EU-Turkey relationship.
