ABSTRACT
Despite the fact that Turkey’s geographical location renders it a natural bridge between East and West, since the early twentieth century, Turkey has arguably been more Western than Eastern in its domestic and international political outlook.1 The attempts of successive administrations to secure Turkey’s place within the EU merely reaffi rm this position. The issues surrounding its current position as an EU ‘candidate country’ are various and complex. That said, Turkey’s historical efforts to secure its current position as a modern democratic and secular republic ensures that with political and economic requirements fulfi lled, there should, in theory, be no bar to achieving full Union membership.
