Turkey’s National Security Concept - A Major Factor Hindering Membership of the European Union

Abstract

Although Europeanization is a relatively new concept, the roots of the idea of the Europeanization of security in Western Europe go back to the early days of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and became manifest after the demise of the USSR, which marked the end of the Cold War.1 Therefore, the process of European integration can also be seen as a Europeanization of the security culture of European Union (EU) member states. This Europeanization is a transition from the classical perception of security, based on state-centric high politics (achieving security by military power), to a modern one, that is giving priority to low politics (achieving security by non-military power, through economic and political integration). Hence, the Europeanization of security is actually a process of de-securitization which eliminates security and insecurity concerns from perception. However, non-military security problems and dynamics can also be present in that de-securitization.