A purge of the police, a power struggle with the judiciary and a
widening corruption scandal are coming together in a toxic mix for
Turkey's half-century-old ambition to join the European Union.
The crisis engulfing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is sharpening suspicions in Europe about the risks of authoritarianism and instability in this linchpin country.
It was way back in 1963 when Turkey and the then European Economic Community signed an association pact, sketched as the first step towards Turkish membership of the European trade bloc.
Negotiations on full-blown accession were eventually launched in 2005, but progress has been meagre. Out of 33 issues where Turkey has to make constitutional, legal, commercial or administrative reforms to align with EU standards, only 17 have been considered satisfactory.
The others, including guarantees of the independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press, are either still being haggled over or have been frozen, in some cases for years.
Read more: Catherine Field: Turkey's EU bid under toxic cloud - Opinion - NZ Herald News
The crisis engulfing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is sharpening suspicions in Europe about the risks of authoritarianism and instability in this linchpin country.
It was way back in 1963 when Turkey and the then European Economic Community signed an association pact, sketched as the first step towards Turkish membership of the European trade bloc.
Negotiations on full-blown accession were eventually launched in 2005, but progress has been meagre. Out of 33 issues where Turkey has to make constitutional, legal, commercial or administrative reforms to align with EU standards, only 17 have been considered satisfactory.
The others, including guarantees of the independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press, are either still being haggled over or have been frozen, in some cases for years.
Read more: Catherine Field: Turkey's EU bid under toxic cloud - Opinion - NZ Herald News
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