Preface
This book aims to provide a guide to the difficult encounter both Turkey and the European Union (EU) are facing. The idea of the book goes back to an international research project and three international conferences organized in Istanbul in 2003 and 2005, respectively. The EU research centre of Istanbul Dogˇus¸ University (the EUCU), directed by Esra LaGro, organized the first conference, entitled EU Governance, Enlargement and
Turkey, in co-operation with a range of organizations within the
frame-work of an international research project. The second international conference, The EU for the World Leadership, of which Esra LaGro was the main theme advisor, was organized by KalDer (the Turkish Society for Quality), representing the European Foundation for Quality Manage-ment (EFQM) in Turkey. More than four thousand people from across the world participated in the event that made an enormous contribu-tion to the debate on the future of Europe and, significantly, the debate took place in the candidate country, Turkey. The third conference, the
International Jean Monnet Conference on Turkey’s Accession Negotiations with the EU: Prospects for Political, Economic and Social Transformation was
organized in 2005 just before the start of the accession negotiations. These events have been realized with the support of the EU Commis-sion, Dogˇus¸ University; and with the co-operation of several institutions, including leading Turkish non-governmental organizations: the Republic of Turkey Prime Minister’s General Secretariat for EU Affairs (ABGS); Turkish Society for Quality (KalDer); Turkish Industrialists’ and Business-men’s Association (TUSIAD); Economic Development Foundation (IKV); Netherlands Institute for Academic Studies (NIAS); Netherlands Organiza-tion for Higher EducaOrganiza-tion in Europe (NUFFIC); CIRP – InternaOrganiza-tional Interdisciplinary Research and Policy Platform; Economic and Foreign Policy Forum (EFPF – now known as EDAM – headed then by Dr Kemal Dervis¸, the current president of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); former Vice-president of the World Bank; former Economics Minister, and later MP of the Republic of Turkey 2001–5); and with the participation of high-level experts from leading universities from all over Europe. The NGOs mentioned above deserve special thanks for the spirit of co-operation and teamwork they have shown during these processes, among which KalDer has been exceptional as its name suggests. Leading national media institutions such as TV8, CNN Turk, TRT, Milliyet, Hürriyet, Radikal and Sabah covered these events.
x Preface
We would like to thank all contributors, partners and participants. Unfortunately, it is impossible to name them all. However, Esra LaGro especially wishes to thank the Rector of Dogˇus¸ University, Professor Dr A. Talha Dinibütün and the academic and administrative staff of the univer-sity for their support; as well as H. E. the former Minister of Foreign Affairs the
late and much respected Mr I˙smail Cem for his invaluable contribution in 2003,
and Ambassador Murat Sungar, former Secretary General for EU Affairs of the Prime Minister’s Office, who provided valuable insights concerning Turkey’s accession process throughout the conference in 2005. Special thanks are also due to Ambassador Pulat Yüksel Tacar who has provided valuable intellectual insights and support at all the events mentioned above. She also wishes to thank Dr Kemal Dervis¸ for his support and encouragement. She had the privilege of attending a number of events with him during 2004–5 in Europe and was able to witness personally the contributions of Dr Dervis¸ to the EU process of Turkey; moreover, she has also benefited greatly from his outstanding knowledge on issues pertain-ing to Turkey and the EU and beyond. Finally, she would like to thank the two keynote speakers at the KalDer conference for their invaluable intel-lectual contribution to the debate: Lord Professor Dr William Wallace (LSE); and H. E. the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and former Head of the World Trade Organization, Mr Mike Moore.
The international high-level group of experts, opinion leaders, policy-makers, businessmen, journalists, diplomats, members of academia from around the world, and the participants of these conferences provided most valuable insights, ideas and contributions. We are grateful to all of them individually although we are unable to list their names here. The editors would like to thank the contributors to this volume for their input, and their flexibility. We would also like to thank the editors at Palgrave for their encouragement and support during the production of this book. Furthermore, we extend our thanks to Ms Ulla Veronica Willner, Mr Jesper Madsen-Østerbye and Ms Volga Çagˇlayangil for their valuable work dur-ing the final preparation of the manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank our families for their support during the preparation of this book, and their understanding for the time we have stolen from them.
We believe that the volume will be a very useful source of informa-tion for those who have an interest in understanding the difficult path Turkey will take towards full EU membership in the years to come. We explore the encounter in its economic, political and socio-cultural dimensions, but the process will undoubtedly require further explo-ration in the future.
