The EU - energy - Turkey Triangle. Does Energy really matter in Turkey's Accession Process?

Scientific Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union grade: A Bilkent University course: EU policies language: English abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the dynamics at the core of the relation betweenTurkey and the European Union (EU) in terms of energy-related issues. The prospect ofTurkey's accession to the EU is one of the most controversial issues affecting the widerEuropean political space. This essay would like to shed light on the impact of energyconsiderations on Turkey's process of accession exploring three inter-related dimensions.First of all a brief account of the EU's patterns of energy consumption and strategies adoptedwill be offered. Secondly the relevance of Turkey as energy corridor linking Easternenergy resources to Western markets will be assessed. Finally EU member states' standpointson Turkey's accession will be investigated trying to isolate the impact of energy-drivencalculations. A liberal-intergovernmental approach will spell out patterns of divergence orconvergence on Turkey's accession evaluating the impact of the energy factor on Turkey'sEU eventual membership. In conclusion this article will show whether or not energy can beconsidered the determiner for Turkey's accession pointing out that the energy card shouldnot be overplayed since the EU's acknowledgement of Turkey's energy strategic could notautomatically lead to full-membership.