Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the issue of Turkish accession has caused an identity crisis' in the EU; it has provoked a considerable amount of soul-searching and discussion among EU elites as to the EU's ideal identity and eventual borders. It argues that national context, and national discourses on Turkey's EU accession are shaped by discourses on state and nation and on European integration. Turkey was finally granted formal candidate status in the 1999 Helsinki Council and, after an intensive period of reform, was invited to open accession negotiations in October 2005. Foreign Policy Discourse Analysis (FPDA) is used to analyse different national discourses regarding Turkish EU accession. FPDA is a three-level discourse analysis approach which argues that discursive constructions of state and nation constrain discourse on the EU, which, in turn, constrains concrete policies towards the EU, including those connected to enlargement.