The history of relations between the Europan Community and Thrkey has been a sad story, on both sides. Unrealism has been the keynote throughout. What was long overdue by the end of 1987 was to sweep away the past contradictions and tergiversations, and try to make a new start on a more realistic basis. Thrkey has now applied formally to resume as a full member of the Community. How ever, as several chapters of this Report show, there are on both sides great reservations a bout membership, unless this were intended to take place only many years ahead. Political ly, the relationship between the Community and Turkey was damaged by the Cyprus and Aegean problems between Thrkey and Greece. It began to break down already in 1964, and the breach was widened by the events of 1974 in Cyprus, by Greece's .subsequent rapid ac cession to the Community, and by the military take over in Thrkey in 1980. Since 1980 there has been a slow process of restoration of relations, marked by new elections in November 1983, and a gradual rehabilitation of Turkey's position in the Council of Europe by 1986, as Turkey strove to re-establish its credentials as a democratic state. Economically there were serious complaints on both sides about the working of the As sociation Agreement. In the Community it was feit that the economic policy of Thrkish go vernments prior to 1979 was in contradiction with the purposes of the Agreement."

Presented in this volume are essays and surveys examining elements of continuity within the context of the broad changes that have marked the history of modern Turkey. The establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 represented a fresh start after the demise of the Ottoman Empire that had spanned the medieval and the modern times, but had become too outdated to cope with the complexities of the industrialized world. Although the Republic was meant to shed the burden of the past in order to meet the challenges of the contemporary era as a modern nation-state, it nevertheless inherited a great deal from the rich civilization of the Ottoman period. Over the last sixty years modern Turkey has been standing up to the challenges of the increasingly demanding and fast changing world of the twentieth century. The fact that it has been able to do so is in no small measure due to its adherence to the principles of evolution and development to keep pace with contemporary civilization. And it is the adherence to these principles that have provided a continuity along with flexibility in social, economic, political, legal, administrative and diplomatie spheres, which are discussed by the contributors to this volume.