From Copenhagen to Ankara Criteria: Neo-Populism As an Alternative to European Agenda

When major European powers openly declared their reluctance for Turkey’s EU membership after the start of negotiations, Prime Minister of Turkey Tayyip Erdoğan declared that Turkey would adopt Ankara criteria instead of Copenhagen if needed. As EU became embroiled in one of the most daunting crisis it had ever met, Turkish enthusiasm for membership dropped sharply while alternative methods for economic development gained popularity. Turkish economic model started to rely more heavily on domestic consumption that was boosted with the help of global liquidity glut. This was a setback from the liberal settings imposed after the 2001 crisis as independent institutions lost their autonomy and the Executive extended its all encompassing power deeper into economic and social life. EU membership was supposed to reduce clientalist practices that had for long dominated political life but when this prospect was delayed, internal dynamics failed to support the liberal political agenda. The rule of law and a non-partisan approach in provision of public goods required in order to create a healthy market economy, were easily dismissed for political motivations. An authoritarian vision of governance dominated the practices of ruling party while all other social and economic issues were subordinated to AKP’s struggle for power. An alternative mechanism of neo-populist expansion led policy makers think that Ankara criteria could also open the way for richness. Hence, Ankara criteria that had apparently little in common with EU standards won the day for AKP, yet success of those policies continue to depend on favorable global conditions.