Assessing Turkey's progress towards EU membership : human rights

Abstract

This research is aimed at assessing Turkey's progress towards EU accession from a human rights perspective. The data used in this study was collected from several sources, however the focus was on the progress reports issued over the last eleven years by the European Commission. A numerical approach was applied to the information collected in order to analyse more efficiently Turkey's progress. Various human rights and the relevant case law were also researched. The study findings suggested that Turkey has in fact achieved significant progress in the area of human rights over the last decade. Unfortunately the data also showed that this progress has been slowing down and has reached a standstill over the last two years. Attention was given to the possible causes of this slow down.