ABSTRACT

Positive or negative positioning of large non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey’ s EU membership process cannot be ignored. In this article, the position of MÜSİAD, which counts as one of the most important employers’ associations in Turkey, towards the European Union (EU) shall be discussed. The emergence and expansion of MÜSİAD is closely associated with the conservative/religious identity politics performed by ANAP/Refah Party. It is well known that the association, which has obtained autonomy in the course of time, has been supporting AKP, the government party. Moreover, the February 28 process (1997) and the governance period of the AK Party in Turkey have had an important role in the transition from a hard EU opposition to a (conditional) EU support. The aims of consolidation of their own islamic-islamist dynamics in both culturaleconomic and national-religious fields have made MÜSİAD an active EU actor. Here, it has been asserted that the MÜSİAD, which makes a distinction between EU skepticism and EU opposition, would provide critical contributions to both Turkey’ s EU membership process and the deepening of modernization in the country.