Turkey’s application to join the European Union has been pending for over a half a century now. However, the prospects of the country joining 27-member bloc have been more realistic now than ever before. Whereas the country’s leadership looks enthusiastic in seeking the EU membership, the same leadership largely remains skeptical about the Euro, the official EU currency (Abbas, 2012). Notably, the EU has probably lost its glorious history, and joining the economic bloc now looks more like benefiting them, which is something unfriendly to any sovereign state. Turkeys feeling is that their entry to the EU and subsequent adoption of the Euro will likely undermine their currency, with widespread repercussions on the entire economy.
The European Union is Turkey’s largest trading partner. In 2015, Turkey’s export to EU stood at 79 billion Euros, while it ranked as the fifth largest trading part to EU; Turkey imported goods from the EU market worth 62 billion euros in the same year (AytuÄ, Kütük, Oduncu & Togan, 2016). This figures represented an over 10 percent growth from the previous year, 2014. That is a demonstration of the EU influence in Turkey through trade. A significant portion of the Turkish financial reserves consists of currencies for countries in the EU, giving them a further economic stake in turkey. Other than trade, over 60 percent of foreign direct investments in Turkey are from the EU region. Similarly, over 60 percent of tourists who visit Turkey are from the European Union. At a glance, there is a distinguished trade relationship between Turkey and the EU.