Conceptualizations of the European “Self” and “Other” in Political Levels of the Contemporary European Union: Representations of the EU and Turkey within the Current Enlargement

Caner Tekin

The original contribution attempted in this research is finding relevance between historical values of Europeanness and conceptualizations of the European “self” and “other” in contemporary EU politics. By doing so, it concerns itself with the co-existential relationship between the EU and Turkey, and aims to highlight Turkey reports released by the supranational institutions of the EU. These reports involve the progress reports of Turkey from the European Commission, and corresponding reports, together with their amendments, from the European Parliament, along Turkey’s negotiation process. It hence seeks to grasp the enlargement discourse of these institutions since 2005, the date of Turkey's enrolment to the negotiation process. Through a historical-linguistic approach, it eventually aims to understand historical influences and cognitive interests between the European Commission and Parliament, on the one hand, amongst the political parties represented in the European Parliament, on the other.