ACCORDING TO MAASTRICHT CRITERIA EVALUATION OF TURKEY'S ENTRY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

The purpose of this study is to evaluate Turkey's European Union membership according to Maastricht Criteria. As it known, the European Union, or simply the EU, is a political and economic organization consisting of twenty-eight member countries whose territories are largely European-centered. The conclusion of the Maastricht Treaty, signed on 7 February 1992, also known as the Treaty of the European Union, on 1 November 1993, was established by posting new tasks and areas of responsibility to the existing European Economic Community. The European Union has described the criteria to be used in determining whether Member States are in compliance with the Monetary Union in the Maastricht Treaty. These principles, known as the Maastricht Convergence Criteria, are: Inflation rate; the inflation rate may be up to 1.5 points higher than the average of the three Member States with the lowest inflation rate. Interest rate; long-term government bonds and interest rates may be up to 2 points higher than the proportional average of the countries with the lowest inflation rate. Budget deficit; the overall budget deficit should be less than 3% of GDP. Government debt; the ratio of total public debt to GDP should be less than 60%. Devaluation; the member state must not have been devalued against another member state for the last two years. According to these criteria Turkey's entry to the European Union membership seem a bit difficult. In this study, Turkey's entrance to the European Union membership according to the Maastricht Criteria were examined. In the study, articles, books, journals, thesis and statistics about the subject were used. The obtained data are interpreted and have been demonstrated Turkey's entry to the European Union membership according to the Maastricht Criteria