1 THE EU POLICY OF THE REPUBLICAN PEOPLE’S PARTY UNDER KEMAL KILIÇDAROĞLU: A NEW WINE IN AN OLD WINE CELLAR SEÇKİN BARIŞ GÜLMEZ Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway University of London Correspondence Address: Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham UK, TW20 0EX; Tel: +44 XXX XXXX; Email: Baris.Gulmez.2009@live.rhul.ac.uk ABSTRACT This article scrutinizes the determinants of the EU policy of the CHP, the main opposition party in Turkey under the leadership of Kılıçdaroğlu. Critically discussing the role of party ideology concerning attitudes towards EU accession, the article examines whether the CHP’s ideology changed after Kılıçdaroğlu and if so, how this ideological shift affected the party’s euroskeptic stance. The article overall argues that the leadership change enabled the party to withdraw its nationalistic stance and embrace a social democratic rhetoric. However, the article contends that such transformation had little effect on its euroskepticism due to the persisting endogenous (the AKP’s authoritarianism) and exogenous factors (the EU’s additional conditionality) that constrain the new CHP’s EU- enthusiasm. * Introduction Turkey-EU relations are in a state of crisis. The golden era of Turkey’s European vocation spearheaded by the Justice and Development Party (AKP, Adalet ve Kalk ınma Partisi) government has been shattered with the partial curtailment of the accession negotiations. 1 Several years after the initiation of the negotiations, only one chapter has been closed and Turkey’s eventual European Union (EU) accession remains dubious. During the tumultuous years of bilateral relations, the Republican People’s Party (CHP, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), the main opposition since 2002, long pursued a skeptical policy towards the EU although it traditionally supported Turkey’s accession as part of Ataturk’s Republican modernization project. It is plausible to argue that a key determinant behind the rise of CHP’s euroskepticism is the clash between the traditional view of secularism as a fundamental principle of the Kemalist Republic and the EU-led reforms that empower religious freedoms and the pro-Islamic segments of Turkish society, ‘bête noire’ of Kemalist establishment. 2 Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s advance to party leadership in 2010 thus necessitates a fresh analysis of the party’s EU stance as his leadership came with an agenda to change the party’s political ideology along with its hard-line stance over the EU. With this motivation, the article seeks to assess whether there has been a remarkable change in the CHP’s ideological stance in general, and in the CHP’s euroskeptic rhetoric in particular under the new leadership of Kılıçdaroğlu. Accordingly, the article will first critically discuss the relevant literature on the role of party ideology concerning attitudes towards the EU accession. Second, the CHP’s ideology before and after Kılıçdaroğlu will be comparatively scrutinized. Third, the EU policy of Deniz Baykal, the predecessor of Kılıçdaroğlu will be examined with respect to endogenous and exogenous factors influencing his EU stance. Finally, the determinants of Kılıçdaroğlu’s EU policy will be unpacked in comparison to his predecessor. Informed by the works of North Carolina School led by Gary Marks and Liesbet Hooghe, 3 the article argues that the leadership change in the CHP enabled the party to withdraw its * The author would like to thank Didem Buhari-Gülmez, James Sloam and Ziya Öniş for their invaluable feedback.