Die Türkei in der Identitätsfalle

What was the impact of ten years of EU accession process on the freedom of expression’s normative and empirical development in Turkey? Starting from this question and the theoretical framework of political constitutionalism this interdisciplinary study aimed to find an explanation for Turkey’s slowly progressing attempt for accession. In the course of this investigation different causal links have been revealed, which go beyond bureaucratic boundaries: Turkey’s identical foundation is at stake. The government’s identity was imprinted by an ideology, which was attempting to repress the inheritance of the multiethnic and multireligious predecessor nation, namely the Osmanian Empire. This leads to ethnical and religious conflicts, which were encountered by limitations of fundamental rights. In conjunction with the Copenhagen criteria for membership, identity and legitimacy issues arise. Employing a political taboo on those topics leads to a slowly progressing accession process.