The Romani population in Turkey is approximately two million and the Roma have been residing in this country since the eleventh century. However, the mobilization of the Turkish Roma has been very weak, and the Roma have started to get mobilized only for a couple of years. This paper thus analyzes the intrinsic reasons of the weakness of the Turkish Romani mobilization, which is a topic overlooked by scholars. In order to discern the factors that foster and hinder the Romani mobilization in Turkey, this paper examines the domestic political opportunity structure and the supranational political opportunity structure, namely the EU. Moreover, the framing of the Romani leaders of the main Romani associations in Turkey is examined. This paper focuses on Turkey and relies on in-depth interviews conducted with five Romani leaders and four experts in Edirne, Izmir, Istanbul and Budapest (where the European Roma Rights Center is located) in 2009. It is concluded that the Turkish legislation on minorities is the main threat hindering this mobilization: The Roma are not recognized as minorities and the legislature on the Roma is very discriminatory which leaves little room for their mobilization. On the other hand, forced evictions through urban renovation projects have appeared as an opportunity. Urban renovation projects conducted in major Romani neighborhoods have attracted significant attention from the media and civil society organizations, and led to a sense of solidarity and collective action among the Roma. This paper also argues that the EU acts as both an opportunity and threat to the Turkish Romani mobilization. Specifically, the monitoring mechanism of the EU through its Regular Progress Reports, changes undergone in the legislation in the context of the EU accession reforms, the extension of public discussion and the EU funding have facilitated the Romani mobilization. However, the EU inability to discern the uniqueness of the Roma in Turkey and its policy and project recommendations which have hardly suited the Turkish Romani needs, dependency on the EU funding hence the EU`s normative agenda, and the exclusion of the Romani experts in the EU projects have constituted threat to the Romani mobilization. Based on the framings of the leaders, this paper concludes that lack of education, solidarity and experience; prejudices; financial problems; organizational fragmentation; clashes in framings and the fact that the Roma identify themselves primarily as Turk constitute the main factors explaining the weakness of the Turkish Romani mobilization.