1. H.Utku Ölmez & Alpay Çanta

2. 1959 Letter of Application 1964 The Ankara Agreement 1970 Additional Protocol 1972 Turkey – EEC negotiations 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation 1980 Military coup

3. 1982 European Community decided to freeze the relations with Turkey after the 1980 military coup 14 April 1987 Turkey applied to Association Council for full membership to the European Communities. 24 April 1987 Turkey’s demand for full membership to the Community was referred to the Commission to be analyzed by the “Community Council of Ministers 1989 European Commission disapprove Turkey’s application for membership.

4. 1996 From this date on, the “Last Period” started with the Customs Union for full membership. 3 March 1999 “European Strategy for Turkey”,a documentation aiming to improve the Turkey- European Union Affairs, was declared by the European Union Commission of Turkey. 4 November 1999 “Progress Report” 2002-2004 Harmonization Packages

5.  ‘’Adnan Menderes’’ was the Turkish Prime Minister between 1950–1960. Adnan was born in 1899 in Koçarlı, Aydın Province, as the son of a wealthy landowner of Crimean Tatar origin

6.  He graduated from the Law School of Ankara University. In 1930, Menderes organized a branch of the short- lived Liberal Republican Party

7.  Turkey-EU relations were initiated in the framework of the association regime based on the Ankara Agreement which was signed with the European Economic Community on 12 September 1963 and took effect on 1 December 1964.  The Ankara Agreement envisaged three stages for the integration of Turkey and the EU, namely a preparatory stage, a transitional stage and a final stage. The completion of the Customs Union was planned at the end of the transitional stage. With the finalization of the preparatory stage as foreseen in the Agreement, provisions of the transitional stage and the obligations of the Parties were determined in Additional Protocol signed on 13 November 1970 and put into effect in 1973. The Ankara Agreement also explicitly specified that the partnership regime that it established would facilitate Turkey's accession to the EU.

8.  With the completion of the transitional period, the Customs Union, which constitutes an important stage of Turkey's integration with the EU, entered into force on 1 January 1996. The Customs Union provided a high level of integration between the Parties and Turkey set EU membership as its next goal, as indicated in the Ankara Agreement (Article 28). The Customs Union continues to be a fundamental dimension of our relations with the EU. (The main organs of the existing association regime are the Association Council, the Association Committee, the Customs Cooperation Committee and the Joint Customs Cooperation Committee.)  On the other hand, bilateral free trade agreements have gradually become widespread in the world and their contents have been deepened and extended in a way that will cover all the dimensions of trade. The free trade agreements recently concluded by EU with the countries such as South Korea, Canada and Singapore fall within this scope.

9.  Further improving Turkey's commercial relations with EU has become a necessity at this juncture. Taking into account the experience gained from the existing Customs Union and the positive effects of harmonization of legislation carried out as a candidate country to the EU membership, enhancement of commercial relations will make Turkey and EU one of the most important trade partners of each other. We also think that such a development will provide mutual economic benefits for both parties and accelerate the EU membership process of Turkey.  With this understanding, we continue to negotiate with the EU Commission to clarify the methods to be followed in order to upgrade commercial relations and the Customs Union on the basis of mutual benefit.

10.  A new era began in the relations between Turkey and the EU after Turkey assumed “candidate status” during the Summit of Heads of State and Government in Helsinki on 10-11 December 1999. At the Brussels Summit on 16-17 December 2004, the decisions taken in the 1999 Helsinki Summit were reaffirmed, as the Council took note that Turkey sufficiently fulfilled the political criteria and decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 3 October 2005. Accession negotiations were launched on that date as planned.

11.  In the accession process, 13 chapters (“4-Free Movement of Capital”, “6-Company Law”, “7- Intellectual Property Law”, “10- Information Society and Media”, “12-Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy”, “16- Taxation”, “18-Statistics”, “20- Enterprise and Industrial Policy”, “21-Trans-European Networks”, “25-Science and Research”, “27-Environment”, “28-Consumer and Health Protection”, “32-Financial Control”) have been opened to negotiations so far and 1 of them (“25-Science and Research”) has been provisionally closed.

12.  On 29 July 2005, the Additional Protocol extending the Ankara Agreement to the new member States that acceded to the EU in 2004 was concluded by an exchange of letters among Turkey, the EU Presidency and the Commission. An official declaration to legally constitute an integral part of our letter and signature was also made. In the declaration, it was explicitly stated that Turkey, by signing the Additional Protocol, did not recognize the “Republic of Cyprus” by any means.

13.  The negotiations on 8 chapters cannot be opened at present (“1-Free Movement of Goods”, “3-Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services”, “9-Financial Services”, “11-Agriculture and Rural Development”, “13-Fisheries”, “14- Transport Policy”, “29-Customs Union” and “30-External Relations”) as a result of the EU Council decision of December 2006 and no chapters can be provisionally closed on the grounds that Turkey does not undertake its obligations stemming from the Additional Protocol to Ankara Agreement in its entirety (Turkey’s position with respect to Greek Cypriot Administration).

14.  On the other hand, in 2007 France has declared that it will not allow the opening of negotiations on 5 chapters (“11- Agriculture and Rural Development” (one of the 8 chapters blocked due to Additional Protocol), “17-Economic and Monetary Policy”, “22-Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments”, “33-Financial and Budgetary Provisions”, “34-Institutions”) as they were considered directly related with membership by France. France recently lifted its blockage on chapter 22 in February 2013 and the aforementioned chapter has been launched in Intergovernmental Conference held in Brussels on 5 August 2013. President Hollande of France underlined during his visit to Turkey on 27-28 January 2014 that France will not be the country to block the negotiation process.

15.  Following the EU Council meeting of December 2009, Greek Cypriot Administration unilaterally stated that it would block the opening of 6 chapters (“2-Freedom of Movement for Workers”, “15- Energy”, “23-Judiciary and Fundamental Rights”, “24-Justice, Freedom and Security”, “26-Education and Culture”, “31-Foreign, Security and Defense Policy”).

16.  It is a commitment of the EU to carry out the negotiations on chapters only on the basis of the relevant acquis. Both during institutional contacts with the EU and meetings with the representatives of the EU member states, Turkey emphasizes that the technical negotiation process should not be slowed down for political reasons. At present, efforts are underway to revive the negotiation process.

17.  Reform efforts are resolutely continued.in parallel with the expectations of Turkish people and within the harmonization work with the EU acquis  In this respect, "New EU strategy of Turkey" announced in September 2014 aims to establish new communication channels between Turkey and the EU and accelerate the reform process. This strategy is established on the basis of resoluteness, sustainability and efficiency and consists of three legs: "Political Reform Process", "Socio- economic Transformation during the Accession Process", EU Communication Strategy."

18.  Domestic dimension of the EU Communication Strategy was prepared to enhance the support to Turkey's EU Membership within the public opinion in Turkey and the EU and announced in October 2014. It aims to reinforce the confidence of Turkish people in Turkey's accession process to EU as a modernization and democratization process, which will raise the living standards in every field as well as to enhance the support to the reforms. Foreign dimension of the Communication Strategy aims to ensure the coherence of the facts and perceptions concerning Turkey within EU public opinion; re-establish the mutual confidence and underline the determination, self-confidence and sincerity of Turkey with regards to the EU process.

19.  "National Action Plan for the Accession to EU" has been prepared on the basis of this Strategy. The Action Plan is the roadmap putting forward the steps to be taken and the priorities to be adopted in order to sustain and strengthen the political reforms in Turkey and the on-going socio-economic transformation. The first phase of the Action Plan which covers the activities to be carried out during November 2014-June 2015 period was announced on 30 October 2014. Its second phase concerning the work to be carried out during June 2015-June 2019 period was announced on 1 December 2014.

20.  The EU Commission publishes every autumn a “Progress Report” stating its views on the developments of the current year concerning Turkey’s alignment with the EU’s acquis and in this context on the progress in accession negotiations with the EU.  The EU Commission, along with the Progress Reports on every candidate and potential candidate country, circulates an Enlargement Strategy document comprising assessments on its enlargement agenda.  The latest Progress Report and Enlargement Strategy document on Turkey were published on 8 October 2014.

21.  Turkey is the 6th largest economy in Europe. At the same time, Turkey is a country with extensive trade and economic relations with the Union. The EU is our largest trading and investment partner. Nearly 40 percent of our foreign trade in 2014 was conducted with the EU member states. This figure rose to 42% in the first three months of 2015. 64% of the foreign direct investment in our country originates from the EU.

22.  The EU and Turkey have common interests in energy security. Turkey-EU high-level energy dialogue was launched during a visit the EU Commissioner for Energy Alliance Maroš Šefčovič paid to Turkey on 16-17 March 2015.

23.  Turkey contributes to the civilian and military operations conducted by the EU. Turkey’s contributions in this framework are not only due to its status as a candidate for the EU membership, but also make up an element of its multilateral foreign policy aimed at supporting international and regional peace and stability. The EUFOR- ALTHEA operation in Bosnia- Herzegovina and the EULEX mission in Kosovo and EUPOL COPPS in Palestine are the EU operations and missions which Turkey currently contributes to. Turkey has contributed to nine EU operations and missions in total up to now.

24. Halil Utku Ölmez Alpay Çanta