This chapter analyses the period 1999–2007 in Turkey–EU relations. The main claim is that the initial wave of democratic and institutional reforms was largely driven by systemic pressures, most notably EU conditionality and the 1999 Helsinki candidacy decision. During this period, domestic consensus and public support converged with EU incentives, resulting in substantive progress, especially under the AKP government. However, from 2005 onwards, this momentum began to stall due to rising adaptation costs, growing domestic polarisation, and a weakening political consensus, particularly over contentious issues like the Cyprus question. While Europeanisation was initially EU-led and widely supported, the post-2005 period marked a turn towards selective alignment, foreshadowing later patterns of de- Europeanisation.