IKV organized a seminar entitled “A Horizon Tour on EU-Turkey Relations: New Dimensions, New Objectives” in cooperation with Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO) on 10 May 2016 during which the recent development in Turkey-EU relations were discussed. 

The opening speech was delivered by Member of the Board of Directors of the BTSO Aytuğ Onur who presented the activities carried out by BTSO. He also explained that the EU is Turkey’s main trade partner and that Bursa has strong trade relations with EU Member States. Lastly, he referred to the visa problem encountered by Turkish businessmen and thus stressed the importance of lifting the visa requirement for Turkish citizens.

As the keynote speaker of the seminar, Political Counsellor at the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey, Vincent-Guillaume Poupeau explained that the removal of the visa will give the opportunity for Europeans and Turkish citizens to better know and understand each other. This in return will bring Turkey even closer to the EU.  

IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas revealed information on the steps of Turkey’s EU accession process and current situation in the Turkey-EU negotiations process and the challenges ahead in Turkey-EU relations. IKV Secretary-General Nas indicated also the milestones of this process which started with the signature of the Association Agreement between Turkey and the EU, then followed by the establishment of the Customs Union, Turkey’s candidature for EU membership and the beginning of the negotiation process.

Assessing the current state of play in the negotiations, IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Nas explained that the refugee crisis gave an important impetus to Turkey-EU relations, especially in terms of accelerating the visa liberalisation process and the possibility of opening new chapters. She also pointed out that the signature of the Readmission Agreement and the decision to modernize the Customs Union were important factors behind the new wave of dynamism in Turley-EU relations.

At the meeting, IKV Junior Researcher Ahmet Ceran gave a presentation regarding Turkey-EU Visa Liberalisation Dialogue and the refugee crisis faced by the parties. In his presentation, IKV Junior Researcher Ceran informed the participants about the 72 criteria that need to be fulfilled by Turkish authorities for Turkish citizens to access the EU visa-free. He also presented and commented the main outcomes of the third report assessing the progress made by Turkey in terms of fulfilling the requirements of its visa liberalisation roadmap. Within this respect, he explained that Turkey need to take additional measures to fulfil the requirements of 5 remaining criteria related to corruption, personal data protection, operational cooperation agreement with Europol, effective judicial cooperation in criminal matters to EU Member States and legislation on terrorism.

Moreover, IKV Junior Researcher Ahmet Ceran referred to different dimensions of visa problem. In this respect, he shared the results of the research and analysis carried out by IKV regarding the economic and humanitarian dimensions of the visa problem. Lastly, he drew attention to the importance for Turkish business world, civil society and public opinion to put pressure on EU decision-makers relating for the lift of visa obstacles against Turkish citizens.

In her presentation, IKV Senior Researcher Selen Akses informed the participants about the need to update the Customs Union and the process which awaits Turkey.  In this respect, Senior Researcher Akses pointed that the need to revise the framework and the scope of the Customs Union has arisen especially due to changes in the world trading systems and also in Turkey and EU’s economic and trade interests.  

The last speaker of the panel, IKV Project Director Çisel Ileri gave a presentation on EU funds and financial assistance to Turkey. She shared detailed information about IPA funds within the context of the financial assistance and indicated that Turkey will benefit from an assistance amounting to 4.454 million euros for the period covering 2014-2020.

Furthermore, IKV Project Director Ileri also explained that Turkey could benefit from an important financial resource by participating to EU Programs. In this respect, she presented the opportunities offered within Horizon 2020, CREATIVE EUROPE, COSME, EaSI, Erasmus+ Programmes. By submitting project proposals to these Programmes, Turkish businesses, SMEs, NGOs, students, entrepreneurs and other related groups can benefit from a financial pool amounting to a total of 100 billion euros.