ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the differentiation in Turkey's performance regarding democratization with decreasing effectiveness of European Union (EU) conditionality along with changing domestic conditions. It emphasizes the importance of effective conditionality and favourable domestic conditions in Turkey's radical democratic transformation after 1999. The chapter shows that weak conditionality, lacking credibility and consistency, and decreasing domestic attachment to EU accession have together played a crucial role in the severe deceleration after the opening of accession negotiations followed by a regression in Turkey's democratization process. It analyses not only the extent of the impact of EU conditionality on democratization in Turkey but also the conditions and factors, including domestic, which have determined the extent of that impact. The EU's commitment to democracy promotion has now become more apparent in parallel with its growing global presence in every field of policy owing to a deeper relationship among EU member states and more closely converged national policies.
