European Union and Turkey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

European Union and Turkey - Essay Example This literature review will aim at describing the various changes that both sides have made over the years in order to demonstrate the progress made by the other side and will also focus on the factors that have influenced the necessity of such decisions. The initial focus will be on understanding the aspects on which the European Union is set to gain by allowing Turkey to obtain membership. This is deemed important in view of the current as it would serve as the reason for many of the changes initiated by the European Union itself. The first question that arises to mind over this issue is as to what does the enlarged European Union stand to gain as a result of Turkey's admission The best possible answer that can be offered within a political perspective is that the inclusion of Turkey as a member would do away with the long standing image of the European Union as an exclusive Christian Club1. Moreover, the proposed inclusion would also help the union in projecting itself to the rest of the world as a model for tolerance where multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic peoples contribute to the welfare of one another. Secondly, the Union also stands to gain from the vast military and security assets that Turkey possesses. Moreover, in spite of having deficiencies at the moment, the inclusion will provide a Turkish economy that has shown a lot of potential and promise. The presence of Oil reserves and a highly qualified workforce would assure the union of a strengthened European economy that is in a better position to take on the challenges faced by it2. The European Union, on the other hand, is very eager to accommodate Turkey into its group and for this, the latter is supposed to achieve credible standards on a number of fronts, for which efforts have been initiated by the Turkish Government since the past few years. The European Union insists that Turkey needs to initiate the necessary actions not for pleasing the Union, but for its own good. The need for reforms has arisen from the fact that Turkey has been having problems in areas such as Human rights, public administration, governance, internal security. Most importantly, Turkey has been in the process of improving its relations with other European Countries with whom it has had long standing territorial disputed. Additionally, changes have also been made to the regulation of the local economy so as to upgrade it to the minimum base standards as perceived by the European Union3. However, in spite of vast changes, there have been certain areas where the European Union has not been satisfied with Turkey's efforts, which has resulted in criticism of some of its efforts and policies. This has resulted in the Union taking some tough measures to ensure that the country takes the best possible action in the future. the specifics of all of these shall be discussed in the forthcoming paragraphs. CHALLENGES BEFORE THE EUROPEAN UNION The major challenges that the European Union faces with respect to Turkey's accession to the union are the fact that a majority of the people are poor, the primary religion is Islam and the country apart from being large, possesses vast and untapped