Assessing the Potential of EU Agencies for the Future of EU-Turkey Relations, Part III: Mapping EU Agencies’ Coverage in the Turkish Press (2002-2021)

Executive Summary

The policy note titled “Assessing the Potential of EU Agencies for the Future of EU-Turkey Relations, Part III: Mapping EU Agencies’ Coverage in the Turkish Press (2002-2021) )” by 2020/21 Mercator-IPC Researcher Michael Kaeding and Zeki Demirpolat, assistant at the University of Duisburg- Essen, was published in November 2021.

Introduction 

Generally speaking, media outlets are an important source of information. Through their reporting media outlets convey an impression of which political and social issues are currently important and consequently influence which topics people consider to be important. While the electorate’s knowledge of relevant topics is indispensable for democracy, so too is Turkish citizens’ understanding of the role of EU institutions and bodies in EU-Turkey relations. So far, there has been little coverage of EU institutions and bodies in the Turkish media. This policy brief will focus on a particular set of EU bodies that now, more than ever, stand for solutions to European problems and as promoters of European integration: EU agencies. Beneath central EU institutions, such as the European Commission, the European Council, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank, and the Court of Justice of the European Union, EU agencies are an often-neglected feature of European integration.