Performance comparison between EU countries and Turkey related to economic criteria in EU harmonization process

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of Turkey's economic indicators in the framework of the European Union harmonization process and do a comparative performance analysis compared to other EU countries. In the first section of the study, the history of Turkey-EU relations was discussed in general terms and indicators of Turkey and some EU countries were evaluated according to the EU's Maastricht Criteria. In the study, an assessment was conducted in 28 EU countries and Turkey for the period 2008-2017. In the second section, clustering analysis and panel data convergence analysis of the EU countries and Turkey was performed based on macroeconomic indicators in Maastricht Criteria. The countries with more similarities were grouped by the clustering analyzes and the convergence status of the countries were evaluated with first generation panel unit root tests. The third section includes the DEA models, Malmquist TPF Index, CCR and BCC models, empirical findings and conclusions. In the study, 3 clusters were obtained as a result of clustering analysis. Convergence was found for Group I, Group II and Group III countries in constant, non-constant and constant-trend models that are as a result of clustering analysis. The findings of DEA and Malmquist TPF analysis show that Turkey's uneffectiveness in output directional CCR - BCC models and although it does not experience a continuous decline in productivity it has a weaker economic performance compared to EU countries.