The EU as a reform promoter led to the underpinning of soft power in Turkish foreign policy until 2007. But the use of hard power has increased again alongside soft power in Turkish foreign policy since 2007. The main argument of the paper is that Turkey's current EU accession process and foreign policy partnership with the EU has been damaged by contradictory regional security problems. This paper attempts to answer the question of why alienation has increased between Turkey and the EU since 2007 by considering foreign policy practices despite the accession negotiations which lead to an anticipation towards the establishment of a greater integration with the EU. This question is answered by considering Turkey’s security culture, which is dependent on realist policies, promotes the use of hard (military) approaches to international crises in its neighbourhood.
