Turkish opposition to the common market : an archaeology of nationalist thought, 1967-1980

Abstract

This article examines the history of Turkish opposition to the then European Economic Community (EEC) between 1967 and 1980. It traces how and why an overwhelming majority of the Turkish elite during these years was opposed to integration with Europe and why this opposition was experienced and performed through a national imagination. It argues that anti-EEC sentiment was informed by, and in turn formulated, a reassertion of nationalist thought that cut across Turkey's extant political and ideological spectrum.