The Head of Trade, Economy and Agriculture Section Counsellor Balazs Gargya from the Delegation of the EU to Turkey visited IKV on 16 October 2015 and came together with IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu, Vice-Chairman Prof. Halûk Kabaalioğlu, Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, Deputy Secretary-General and Research Director Melih Özsöz and Project Manager Çisel İleri. The recent developments regarding Turkey-EU relations, the refugee crisis and the Customs Union were the main topics discussed during the meeting. In regards to Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, Gargya explained that there would be pursuing their efforts for the opening of the chapter on Economic and Monetary Policy in the upcoming months. Referring to the EU’s new trade and investment strategy, Gargya also stressed that both parties show strong political will for the successful achievement of the revision of the Customs Union. As regards to the refugee crisis, IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu expressed his disapproval of EU’s use of the visa liberalization and accession negotiations processes as a bargaining the cause in the context of the talks regarding this crisis.