TEPAV - EU Institute Director Nilgün Arısan Eralp authored the twelfth issues of the Turkey Policy Brief Series

"Although the fiftieth anniversary of Turkey-EU relations came and went without notice, the end of 2013 appeared to herald glimmers of hope for the relationship between the two parties. Although neither seemed to have made their mind up regarding the outcome of the relationship, they at least wanted to keep the process alive, and the atmosphere had started to be marked by a “cautious optimism.”

After the rather harsh tone adopted in the “Political Criteria” section of the 2012 Progress Report for Turkey prepared by the European Commission – the most critical since the late 1990s and early 2000s – the 2013 Progress Re- port published on October 16, 2013 assumed a milder tone. Though including rightful criticisms, especially regarding the state of fundamental freedoms and participatory democracy in Turkey, the Report tried to highlight reformist steps, even minor ones, taken by the government..."