Turkey is one among the prospective countries negotiating its accession to the European Union (EU).
In 1963, the country was initially an associate member of the European Economic Community and later applied for full membership in EEC.
It was an associate member of the Western European Union, and also the 13th member to join the Council of Europe, in 1950. After signing the 1995 Customs Union agreement with the EU, Turkey was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership at the Helsinki summit of the European Council held in 1999.
Although negotiations for full membership started in 2005, the country showed slow progress and out of the 35 Chapters necessary to complete the accession process only 16 had been fulfilled.
The 2016 refugee deal between Turkey and the European Union was actually intended to accelerate negotiations and allow visa-free travel through Europe for Turks. However, the negotiations have been put on hold because Turkey was accused by the EU of human rights violations and its shortcomings in abiding by the rule of law.
EU officials expressed that many of the Turkish policies violate the Copenhagen criteria of eligibility for EU membership. Following these events, in 2019, the European Parliament committee voted to suspend the accession talks. This has sparked counter criticism from the Turkish government too. So, at the moment it becomes difficult to say if Turkey will ultimately join the EU or not.
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