That may be a barrier to entry into the EU - though, looking back at the experience of Greece, Spain and Portugal, it probably isn’t - but it certainly isn’t a barrier to the beginning of negotiations.* The economies of, for example, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia were just as mismanaged and had similar inflation rates when their negotiations started.
Sua
*inflation and economic mismanagement bar entry into the Euro, but not the EU.
I have no idea in answer to the OP, but I do have to say that I don’t think it really matters whether Turkey is part of Europe or Asia - who cares?
(Then again, I may be a special case. I would be quite happy to see, say, New Zealand or Japan or similar joining the EU).
I’m not sure what Istanbul has to do with it. Ok, so it’s a big city. But I think you have to look to the capital.
Ankara is in Asia, therefore if push comes to shove, Turkey is Asian. Moscow is in Europe, so Russia is considered European, even though they have significant territory in Asia. Likewise, I wouldn’t consider the US a central Pacific nation unless we moved our capital to Honolulu.
Why? There are many instances of where the capital of a country is not its center of gravity. When West Germany’s capital was the sleepy university city of Bonn, no one would have argued that Bonn gave Germany its character.
Even if, to use your example, the U.S. moved its capital to Honolulu, no one would argue that the U.S. was a Central Pacific nation. The center of gravity would remain on the American continent.
Sao Paulo, not Brasilia, dominates Brazil. Sydney, not Canberra, dominates Australia. Etc., etc.
Istanbul is the key city of Turkey. It carries more weight, politically, culturally, economically, than Ankara.
Sua