( TurkishWeekly ) Turkey seemed to hold over its EU agenda since last autumn due to concerning with the internal affairs, mostly with the presidential and general elections. It is observable that the government shelved its EU reforms just before the elections. This was mainly because it did not want to risk the election results by reason of the EU membership commitments which could possibly cause a negative reflection on the electorate votes. During this process, the EU responded by emphasizing on necessity of the continuity of the reforms as well as civilization of the process. The parliamentary election was also closely followed by the European side. The similar reactions to that of previous period once again came from the EU side and it was noted down that Turkey voted for stability and reforms. Stating their interest in having a modern, dynamic, successful Turkey as a partner for the EU, the Union reminded their sensitivity about the continuity of the reform process anew.
Although taking a break from the reform process because of its internal politics, the government declared its decisiveness about the reform process a couple of times ago. Stating if necessary they could replace Copenhagen criteria with the Ankara one long before, the government has emphasized on the need for a reform process not just for the sake of the EU membership but Turkish societal and political transformation instead. In order to show its decisiveness, during the previous government (59th one) period in April, National Program for adoption of the EU acquis communautaire was declared, covering 2007-2013 period with many legal and structural arrangements. Legal program divided in specific schedule was planned to proceed parallel to the political reforms. What the important point about the approach of the program was the mentality that whose own determination and performance would result in the success was Turkey itself. In this sense, the government tried to show its determination on the reform process whether it would end with an EU membership or not.