EU Security Concerns and Turkey's Capabilities

Security has been the most important issue in relations between Turkey and the European Union. Turkish leaders have always tried to link their own security concerns with those of the Union، trying to portray their country as net security provider to the EU. The European Union in its new security strategy has tried to expand its security zone outside the EU، defining issues such as terrorism، weapons of mass destruction، regional conflicts، energy security and identity security as new threats. In order to meet such threats، Turkey has been considered as an important actor. In the beginning، the relationship was limited to military partnership، but in recent years، the European Union has tried to exploit Turkey’s nonmilitary capabilities as well. The question that the persent paper wants to examine is: what are Turkey’s security capabilities to achieve permanent membership in the European Union? To answer this question، the authors examine the security concerns of the European Union، especially after the Cold War and September the 11th، as well as Turkey’s capabilities in response to such concerns.