Caspian Report - Issue 06 - Winter 2014
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European Central<br />
Bank , Germany.<br />
EBRU TURHAN<br />
68<br />
many, the recently established AfD<br />
surprisingly won 4.7 percent of the<br />
vote at the German federal elections,<br />
losing out on securing parliamentary<br />
seats by a slight margin. The party<br />
is expected to be quite successful at<br />
the EP elections in May <strong>2014</strong>. With<br />
increasing public hostility towards<br />
European integration and the rise of<br />
Eurosceptic parties, it will be very<br />
hard for Angela Merkel, the defender<br />
of German interests, to pursue a liberal<br />
enlargement policy.<br />
The second important factor in shaping<br />
German preferences on Turkey’s<br />
EU accession process will be the domestic<br />
political situation in Turkey.<br />
It is highly likely that the current political<br />
turmoil in Turkey will in fact<br />
enhance the German support for the<br />
acceleration of Turkey’s EU accession
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