Perception of Turkish identity in europe and its affects on Turkey-EU relations

Due to the fact that international system has had enormous changes after the Cold War, perception of threat has changed gradually and this change led the new actors join the international system. At this point, the notion of `identity? gained much importance in order to explain the new international system as well as the relations between ethnically and religiously different groups.Turkey?s EU membership thus has generated intense identity- based discussions, which has focused on the differences between Turkey and the EU. In this context, this thesis aims to examine the future of Turkey- EU relations by focusing on the factors that shaped the perception of Turkish identity. In order to do that, my initial aim is to explain the construction of Turkish identity over time. After establishing the basic knowledge on what is the Turkish identity, the thesis explains the factors that shaped the negative image of Turks as follows;a)The main factors that affecting the perception of Turkish identity in a negative way,b)Their affects on the evaluation of Turkey?s membership into EU;In order to explain these factors, articles of academicians?, statements of political leaders and also public opinion polls are used. Especially public opinion polls which provide extensive knowledge about the candidate countries, are taken into consideration.European publics? decisions seem to play critical role in the membership process, whose opinion has been mostly shaped by the negative factors as a result of interactions between Turks and Europeans. The historical and cultural differences, albeit in an implicit manner, together with the existence of non-integrated Turkish migrants in Europe seem to deteriorate the Turkish image in the minds of Europeans. As a consequence this deteriorated image affects the support for the Turkish membership.