The article sheds light on the period of intensified dialogue between Turkey and the EU and how it has been perceived by the latter since the climax of the Syrian civil war and the ensuing humanitarian crisis. To this end, the paper analyses official documents and expert interviews through the qualitative research program ATLAS.ti in order to trace salient patterns in the discourse of EU institutions, premised on the methodological approach of grounded theory. The findings of the analysis suggest that the official EU approach to the partnership has been mainly imbued in a security perspective that seeks to externalize the refugee crisis, pursued with the promise of re-invigorating Turkey’s long inert accession process.