TurkStat AND EUROPEAN UNION

 

Turkey and European Union (EU) relations date back to September 12, 1963 to the signature of Ankara Agreement creating an association between Turkey and the European Economic Community. Establishment of Customs Union on January 1, 1996 had been an important turning point for Turkey initiating the efforts to harmonize her policies, legislation and practices with the EU Acquis Communautaire (AC). The recognition of Turkey as a candidate for accession at the Helsinki European Council in December 1999 ushered a new era in the relations between Turkey and the EU. For both parties, Helsinki marks a qualitatively new beginning and a process of strategic mutual transformation by means of versatile cooperational activities in almost all fields.

 

Turkey’s EU accession negotiations were launched on October 3, 2005 in accordance with the decision taken at the Luxembourg Intergovernmental Conference. The Screening Process lasted about a year from October 20, 2005 until October 13, 2006. Statistics is among 35 chapters over which accession negotiations are conducted. Statistics has bidirectional importance in this process; firstly being a unique chapter aiming to harmonize with European Statistical System and secondly, providing the statistical data required for other Negotiation Chapters.

 

TurkStat, responsible institution from collecting, compiling, analyzing and release of statistical data in Turkey, has an important role to align methodologies and procedures with Acquis Communautaire. Therefore, TurkStat became the main responsible institution in Chapter 18: Statistics. After the screening process in 2006, EU Commission decided that Turkey’s position is eligible to start active negotiations in Chapter 18 and brought two closing criteria in EU Common Position Paper accepted in COREPER in July 26, 2007. TurkStat, is continuing to perform and coordinate the studies to meet those criterias, which are on agricultural statistics and national accounts.

 

As a matter of fact, the relations with EU and Turkey in the field of statistics, started long before 2005.  Following Turkey’ s declaration as a Candidate Country at the Helsinki Summit 1999, Eurostat and the TurkStat started without delay to investigate in depth the current situation of the Statistical System of Turkey and identified urgent needs in almost all fields of statistics. These needs are presented in a variety of documents both by EU and Turkey.

EU released four Accession Partnership Documents which define the short and long term priorities and Turkish Government prepared three National Plans presenting the strategies to handle this priorities. Those priorities are as follows;

• Producing timely key national accounts indicators in accordance with ESA 95
• Aligning the methodology and the organisational set-up for collecting information to provide agriculture statistics in line with EU requirements
• Finalising establishment of the business register
• Reinforcing the coordinating role and improving the administrative capacity of Turkstat to ensure more timely collection, processing and dissemination of data

 

TurkStat, as the main responsible institution from the production and release of Official statistics in Turkey and the main institution conducting negotiation process under “Statistics” Chapter, is intensively working on EU compliance studies towards membership and give support to other Chapters through statistical production.