Akman, Mehmet SaitÇekin, Semih Emre2025-02-202025-02-202021978-303070890-0978-303070889-4https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70890-0_12https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12846/1713EU-Turkey relations have been subject to manifold ups and downs for decades. The EU's role in Turkey's domestic transformation has long been a matter of interest to the academic community. This chapter examines to what extent and under what conditions the EU has served as an anchor for the Turkish economy during the last two decades, focusing on the effects of the EU anchor on Turkey's macroeconomic and trade policy. It finds that maintaining a European anchor after the Helsinki European Council helped Turkey realize much-desired comprehensive macroeconomic reforms, especially during times when the EU anchor was combined with another multilateral anchor. Nevertheless, the EU's anchor-providing role has not been consistent and amidst changing political circumstances it is no longer considered an 'elixir' for the Turkish economy. The establishment of the Customs Union (CU) is revealed to have been a significant driver of the transformation of Turkey's trade policy. While the trade partnership remains one of the few well-functioning aspects of the volatile bilateral dialogue between the EU and Turkey, the EU's role in the trade policy arena is diminishing, and the upgrading of the CU remains vital to achieve further momentum and enhance mutual gains. © The Author(s) 2021.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessBook Part10.1007/978-3-030-70890-0_122953222-s2.0-85150479071