Carrot and Stick Approach in International Relations: An Evaluation Throughout Turkey’s Accession Negotiations with The European Union

The carrot and stick approach is an approach used by realists in explaining hard power in the Discipline of International Relations. Hard power actors use the carrot and stick approach to make other actors do what they want. According to this, other states are trying to get things done by punishment that they do not want to do, while the state is rewarded for doing what they want. The European Union is also one of the actors who have applied this approach to third countries. The EU has requested that this approach be awarded to other states by way of reward or punishment. One of the states towards the EU has applied this approach is Turkey. The EU began negotiations with Turkey on October 3, 2005 (carrot), and the European Commission suspended the negotiations in eight categories because of the problem with Cyprus in 2006 (stick). But after recent developments between the two sides, the EU's carrot and stick approach have begun to reverse, and the EU has not been able to do what it wants to Turkey in this policy. This study will examine Turkey-EU relations by considering some events such as Positive Agenda and Cyprus problem in the negotiation process within the framework of the carrot and stick approach. This framework will try to analyze why this approach works and where Turkey-EU relations will go on