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Relations between the European Union (EU) and Turkey and the impact of the EU on social, economic and political spheres in Turkey have been discussed for a long time both in the EU and Turkey. On the eve of a new turn in this relationship, however, a long-forgotten dimension of European integration seems to challenge the debates concerning the environment and development in Turkey. Parallel to the developments taken place at the international level, both Turkey and the states constituting the European Economic Community, and the European Economic Community itself started to establish some administrative units and to develop policy responses for ever-growing environmental problems in the 1970s. Hence the evolution of the EU environmental policy was closely associated with the requirements of economic rationality of the integration which at the same time promised regional development, stability and peace in the region. The aim of this rather brief study is two-fold. To begin with it underlines that environment and development is inexorably linked. The overriding focus, here, however is not about the corrective and preventive ramifications but is also about alternative views on development. Secondly this study asserts that environmental considerations have an important role in shaping the future of the European integration project. Through an incremental process now it is possible to talk about "European environmental governance" which engenders domestic changes in Member States in economic, social, legal and political terms. Integration of environmental considerations into the legal structure of the European Union has also paved the way for new discussions on the possible effects of membership of candidate countries' economic and social structures. It is possible to assume the current status as a departure point to discuss whether and how patchwork environmentalism in Turkey can turn into a more integrated and comprehensive approach or to assume the current... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]