Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the EEC since 1963.
Turkey is a founding member of the OECD and the G-20 major economies.
The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline forms part of Turkey's foreign policy strategy to become an energy conduit to the West. However, Turkey's border with Armenia, a state in the Caucasus, remains closed following its occupation of Azeri territory during the Nagorno-Karabakh War