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The main argument of this paper is that, due to the increasing support for the extreme right in Europe and human rights violations and democracy problems in Turkey are considered as identity issues which will affect Turkey's accession process. This article aims to examine the debates on whether Turkish identity is compatible with 'European Identity', as an unofficial membership criterion. These debates derive from the change in the content of European identity which depends on global challenges. Particularly, since the end of the Cold War, idea of collective European identity has been changed remarkably. In this respect, another research question asked in this article is, although it has not been directly mentioned in the European Union's legal documents, to what extent Turkey would be affected by these challenges that came up with the changing political atmosphere in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]