The rise of pro-Islamic politics, the eastward expansion of the EU and the invasion of Iraq have increased the Western media's interest in the only Muslim member of Nato: Turkey. Popular discussion, however, has overshadowed a lack of systematic analyses for a proper understanding of major political developments in Turkey. This paper aims to debate Turkey's state of affairs from the perspective of political economy. It will be argued that Turkey's already troubled democracy is under the threat of absolute collapse, triggered by fundamentalist and fascistic tendencies, and that the current policies of the EU nurture such processes despite the EU's pro-democratic claims.
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