A comparative analysis of the pre-accession assistances provided for Turkey and for the other EU candidate and potential candidate countries, and a prescience on Turkey's possible full membership to the EU

This study aims to expose whether the EU has been treating Turkey equally in comparison to the other pre-accession countries within the context of the pre-accession financial cooperation. To this end, the study compares the pre-accession assistances granted to Turkey and to the other pre-accession countries from qualitative and quantitative aspects. The comparison covers mainly the period of 2000 ? 2013.Nowadays, pre-accession financial assistances of the EU attract a growing interest and significance, because it fosters accession process of the candidate and potential candidate countries to the EU membership. Each euro spent as part of the pre-accession strategy of the EU makes the candidate and potential candidate countries more prepared for the membership. In this atmosphere, the EU should allocate the funds among the pre-accession countries fairly. To ensure equality, the EU defines concrete allocation criteria under the pre-accession instruments. Even so, the equality is broken as the study illustrates like in the example of Turkey.As a term ?pre-accession assistance? is explained and former and current pre-accession instruments are introduced initially. Then, the financial cooperation between Turkey and the EU is explained in detail. Thereafter, the financial cooperation between the EU and the other pre-accession countries are summarised to make a comparison between Turkey and the others. Last chapter constitutes the most important part of the study. It is the synthesis of all previously mentioned information. In this chapter, the EU?s unequal treatment of Turkey is displayed through qualitative and quantitative analysis. In the conclusion part, a prescience of the writer on Turkey?s possible full membership to the EU is stated.