IKV Board of Directors’ delegation visited Diyarbakir on the 26th May 2014, under the leadership of IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan. On the occasion of the meeting of the board of directors organized in Diyarbakir, the delegation took this opportunity to make various contacts in the city. An informative seminar was also organized to tackle the new agenda in Turkey-EU relations. Member of IKV Board of Directors and President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Diyarbakir, Ahmet Sayar, hosted this visit in Diyarbakir.

The IKV delegation visiting Diyarbakir under the leadership of IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan consisted of Member of the Executive Board Responsible for Accounts Mehmet Nuri Görenoğlu; Members of the Board of Director, Ahmet Sayar, Atilla Menevşe, İlhan Soylu, İlyas Gençoğlu, Simone Kaslowski, Şükrü Alkan; Audit Committee Member Kenan Atalay, Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Nas, Deputy Secretary General and Research Director Melih Özsöz and Brussels Representative Haluk Nuray.

The delegation visited the Governor of Diyarbakir, Cahit Kıraç and the Co-President of the Metropolitan Municipality of Diyarbakir, Fırat Anlı. The IKV delegation also visited the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Diyarbakir and they consulted with the members of their Board of Directors. During this visit, IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan and the other members of the delegation gave information on the foreseen activities, projects and objectives by IKV for the next years.

An informatory seminar entitled the “New Agenda of the EU-Turkey relations” was also organized on the occasion of IKV’s visit to Diyarbakir. Members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Diyarbakir, representatives of business institutions, public institutions and NGOs participated in the seminar. The opening speeches were delivered by President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Diyarbakir, Ahmet Sayar, IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan and the Co-President of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality Fırat Anlı. During the panel, IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, IKV Deputy Secretary General and Research Director Melih Özsöz, and IKV Brussels Representative Haluk Nuray gave each a presentation.

IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas gave an overview of Turkey’s EU accession process during her presentation.  In this regard, she explained the rules and the evolution of this accession process and pointed out to the challenges encountered during this process. Nas stated that Turkey would gain tremendously from the membership with its access to EU institutions, its participation in the decision making process and in matters related to global governance.

IKV Deputy Secretary General and Research Director Melih Özsöz, gave a presentation on Turkey-EU visa liberalization process and the Readmission Agreement. Within this framework, he focused on the problems encountered by Turkish citizens in their Schengen visa application. Özsöz stated that visa application remains against the spirit of Turkey-EU association law. Nevertheless, he affirmed that the signature of the Readmission Agreement reflected the beginning of new process in these visa issues. For the effective implementation of this agreement, Özsöz emphasized the importance of sharing the burden and strengthening of cooperation between the two parties.

IKV Brussels Representative Haluk Nuray gave a presentation on new generation of free trade agreements and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. He pointed out to the increase of regional trade integration and the increasing number of countries signing free trade agreements. Nuray stated that new generation of free trade agreements are quite different from the previous concluded classical agreements. In his presentation, Nuray also underlined the importance of TTIP. Whether Turkey participates or not in this agreement, Nuray has stressed that this will raise important costs.  He therefore stressed the need for Turkey to monitor closely the TTIP process and to analyze the impacts of this agreement on Turkey.