The democratic potential of the Turkish civil society for better EU-Turkey relations

VIADUCT Policy Paper No. 1 (2018)

This policy paper aims at examining the democratic potential of Turkish civil society and seeks to outline policy initiatives that could strengthen societal bonds between Turkey and the European Union (EU). Such measures could have a positive effect on the Turkey-EU-relations. This paper considers the necessity of fundamental support of civil society organizations (CSOs) with pro-EU attitudes, to counterbalance the onesided support of anti-EU CSOs and the democratic setbacks since 2013. The later culminated just recently in the last presidential and general elections on 24th of June 2018 with a new and more authoritarian constitution.