The approach of the Republican People's Party towards Europe and the European Union in party programs and election declarations

Considering full membership to the European Union as achieving Atatürk's "contemporary civilization goal" and also signing the Association Agreement with the European Economic Community, CHP is a political party that has witnessed all the developments in the integration process with the European Union, from the establishment of the associate membership relationship with the EU to the present. As an actor, he sincerely defended Turkey's goal of membership in the European Union. It makes unique contributions to Turkey's full EU membership efforts by giving full support to the EU harmonization laws and reforms that should be enacted within the scope of EU accession negotiations, lobbying EU institutions and establishing representation in Brussels. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to reveal the approaches of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which founded the modern Turkish Republic, towards the European Union by examining them in the light of election manifestos and party programs. In addition to this, another aim of this thesis is to reveal the extent to which the Republican People's Party has included the strong support it has given to Turkey's efforts to integrate with Europe in its party programs, and to examine to what extent it has been able to reflect this to the public with its election manifestos.