The De-Europeanization of Foreign Policy: The Case of Turkey’s Relations With Greece

Drawing on the external incentives model (EIM), this paper maintains that unlike the favourable conditions for Europeanization between 1999 and 2005, the higher adoption costs, diminished credibility of the EU’s promise and threat, reduced size and speed of accession and problems concerning the determinacy of conditions created a setting that was conducive to the de-Europeanization of Turkish foreign policy after 2006. It then argues that in this de-Europeanized environment, the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey acted as a catalyst in the shift of Turkish policy regarding Greece, leading to deterioration in the relations. Drawing on documentary analysis supplemented by semi-structured interviews with experts and taking the July 16 coup as a milestone, this paper contributes to the literature on the de-Europeanization of Turkish foreign policy and how that affected Turkey’s relations with Greece.