Turkey is today evolving quickly thanks to a two-track trend of external factors and internal dynamics, both quite difficult to comprehend. The opening of the EU membership negotiations allowed the Turkish government to pursue a series of political reform aiming to meet the Copenhagen criteria. After several years of heavy adjustments, the Turkish economy enjoys now an outstanding growth rate, thus confirming its status of promising emerging market. Furthermore, it seems that the Turkish civil society itself tends to strengthen and gain autonomy in the current debate over the future of the country.

Nevertheless, uncertainty is far from being removed. The opening process is not yet completed and the context of permanent political crisis is threatening the economic stability. Turkey’s institutional model and political culture are currently facing a transformation period and the consequences are difficult to anticipate. Between social exodus and new forms of social mobility the Turkish population is experiencing major changes with prominent consequences on both the social contract and the national consensus. As far as diplomacy is concerned, Turkey oscillates between pregnant European imperatives, instinctive power reaction heralding an intricate relinquishment of sovereignty, and the temptation of alternative alliances that could strengthen its status of a key regional power.

Far from simplifying the Turkish patchwork, increasing relationships with the EU make it even more complicate. The emergence of new issues suggests that new analytic tools are necessary. Having a new way of looking at Turkey’s contemporary reality is absolutely necessary in order to identify the new stakeholders, the factors of mobilisation together with the new divisions that will weight in the main national choices for Turkey.