A study on the efficiency of foreign trade between Turkey and EU customs union: Before and after

In the last 50 years Turkey's one of the main aim is to reach a full membership in the European Union. The relations between Turkey and European Economic Community (later on European Community (EC) and European Union (EU)) have begun in 1963 with Ankara Agreement. The origins of the custom union were established with Added Protocol, which was signed in 1970 and enacted in 1973. The Customs Union Agreement between Turkey and EU was signed in 6 March 1995.The membership in Customs Union is realized as an important step for Turkey on the membership to European Union. The key importance about the customs union between Turkey and EU is, Turkey is the first country to be a member of the Customs Union without a membership to the EU. The aim of this study is to test the effects of Customs Union on general and sectoral (automotive) foreign trade between Turkey and EU member states. From the results the effectiveness and necessity of the Turkish membership within the Customs Union are examined. Further on we may have the opportunity to answer if the membership of Turkey within the Customs Union was approval before the accession of the country. Keywords: Customs Union, European Union, Foreign Trade, Import, Export, Automotive