Europeanization of Political Elite Discourses in Turkey: A Content Analysis of Parliamentary Debates 1994–2002

Abstract

This article assesses the relative importance of EU‐level factors in the Europeanization of political elite discourses on the Copenhagen political criteria by evaluating alternative explanations of national contextual, party‐level, and intraparty‐level factors. The article argues that the Helsinki summit decision in December 1999 to recognize Turkey as a candidate helped place the issues of democracy, human rights, and rule of law in the discourses of Turkish political elites more decisively. However, it also argues that national context, party‐level, and intraparty‐level factors played a critical role providing a favorable and receptive environment for the EU's political criteria for membership to become a central concern for political elites in Turkey by creating an elite consensus on democratization in the months preceding the Helsinki summit.