Still lacking quality? Europeanisation and the challenge to improve civil society participation in policy processes in Turkey

This paper is focused on the impact of EU policies towards young people in fostering active citizenship in Turkey. The process of development of the Turkish civil society in the last 15 years has proceeded hand in hand with the Europeanisation process, and has been critically enhanced by the support of the EU, bringing into the discussion the process of Europeanisation of citizenship in Turkey by touching upon a number of critical social issues. Additionally, the financial support of the EU with key programmes has been an essential factor that has facilitated the internationalization of Turkish civil society organizations. This process has enhanced the structuring of organized forms of civil society groups in a way similar to what has been happening in many other European countries. Throughout the enhancement of practices of lobbying and civil dialogue, organizations have started going through a process of political socialization. In acknowledging this, it is important to point out that this relationship and the overall approach to this issue by the EU is not to be seen as unproblematic. Most scholars argue that the increase in quantity of civil society organizations have not corresponded to a better quality, and civil society actors are still not fully empowered actors in processes of policy making. In short, the EU public policy towards civil society has not fully promoted forms of civic engagement enabling civil society actors to gain ownership of policy processes. The paper presents data collected through field work in Turkey in 2015 and 2016 and results of interviews conducted with representatives of youth organizations with the aim to understand whether the enhancement of key funding and participation in transnational networks is providing a shift towards the fostering of practices of active citizenship. In doing so, it has the ambition to provide a number of policy recommendations for improving the impact of the EU approach towards civil society in Turkey.