How Do EU Decisions of December 2009 Summit Affect Turkey-EU Negotiation Process?

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The EU General Affairs Council (Foreign Ministers) meeting, whose prospect as an unpleasant turning point in Turkey’s relations with the EU and particularly in the negotiation process had aroused anxiety since 2006, was held quietly on 7-8 December 2009, almost without any resonance either at the EU Leaders Summit on 10-11 December 2009 or in Turkey. Apart from the fact that Turkey’s agenda for the week of the summit was occupied with a series of important and nasty developments, the reasons why the meeting did not create a much of storm can be summarized as follows: