Özge Yaka

Transformation of Turkey's Cyprus Policy: from a National Cause to an Impediment Özge Yaka

This study focuses on the transformation in which the Cyprus question is perceived and handled in Turkey, both in the levels of official state policy and common sense, between December 1999 (Helsinki Summit) and April 2004 (Annan Plan Referendum). The aim is to analyze this transformation with a historical perspective in terms of the actors and dynamics involved, focusing on the role of big capital and its representative TÜS?AD. This study maintains the necessity to relate this process of transformation with the hegemonic visions/projects/opinions of the period in question. Specifically, it is impossible to understand and analyze the transformation of the official policy and public opinion on Cyprus separate from the EU membership project of 2000s. This study analyzes this transformation as a dimension of a general process, that is the formation of EU membership as a hegemonic project.