Turkish public opinion interpreted the announcement of the candidate status of their country as if they would be a member of the European Union in a couple of years. Surprisingly the same time range coincides with the beginning of a strong opposition to Turkey to the extent that Turkey should not be granted a full membership; instead an alternative should be arranged. This study aims to explore the reasons behind the privileged partnership proposal. For finding out whether Turkey is the ugly duckling and why she has been alienated from the Union by proposing an alternative to full membership,...