Since Turkey became an official candidate in 1999 for membership of the European Union, we have witnessed an extraordinary burst of reforms as well as embarrassing setbacks. We managed to convince ourselves not to execute the most hated man in the country – PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. But we are seemingly unable to prevent some of our most prominent writers and journalists from being dragged before the courts under the infamous Article 301 of the penal code, which makes it a crime to “insult Turkishness”.

This pattern of overachievement and underperformance is best explained by the dynamic between the EU bid and the emergence of civil society in Turkey.