Development Cooperation and EU Foreign Aid: A Sectoral Analysis on Turkey

This study focuses on the role of foreign aid from EU institutions in the process of Turkey’s integration with the European Union (EU). The EU's endeavour to expand its common market towards Eastern European and Mediterranean countries has been at the core of official development assistance (ODA) to Turkey since well before its EU candidacy. However, the distinctive circumstances of each period determine the objectives, nature and sectoral composition of foreign aid. While aid funds were channelled under the financial protocols in 1963, they were begun to be directed under the Instrument for Pre-Accession after full candidateship was achieved in 1999. In this study, firstly, the relative importance of the EU as a donor country among Turkey's sources of foreign aid and Turkey's place and importance among EU aid recipient countries are discussed. The study also provides a historical perspective on the EU's aid to Turkey and identifies the changes in the sectoral composition of aid over time using the OECD Development Assistance Committee database, reports of the European Commission and the relevant ministries in Turkey, and data from the European Investment Bank. Hence, along with the goal of enabling entry into Turkey as a viable export market, other priorities of EU institutions in aid allocation include regional development, mitigating regional disparities, and fostering alignment with EU principles such as the rule of law, democracy, and human rights notably after Turkey's engagement in the regional integration process through its EU candidacy.