Ayhan Zeytinoğlu was re-elected as the Chair of the Board of Directors of IKV at the 59^th Ordinary General Assembly meeting held on 20 September 2021 in Istanbul. The chairmen of the trustees of the foundation, representatives and delegates of the supporting organisations were the participants at the General Assembly where IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu gave a speech on the activities of the Foundation for the period July 2020-September 2021.  

The opening speeches at the General Assembly were delivered by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Vice President Ali Kopuz, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) Chairman Şekib Avdagiç, Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) Vice Chairman İrfan Özhamaratlı, Chairman of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) İsmail Gülle and IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Kaymakcı emphasised the importance of IKV’s role in the civil society’s contribution to the EU process in Turkey. Giving a detailed account of relations with the EU, Ambassador Kaymakcı stressed the necessity to expand into new topics as a result of the current EU priorities regarding Green Deal, climate change, security and health.

Representatives of IKV’s trustee institutions noted that the EU accession process has gained even more prominence and pointed out to the critical role IKV has assumed as “Turkey's EU expert”.  While recalling the important role the EU plays in Turkey's foreign trade and investments, they voiced the business community's expectations for the revival of the EU accession process. At the same time, they made a point of the need for IKV, as the EU expert of the business community, to continue its contribution to Turkey-EU relations in the post-COVID-19 normalisation period and stressed the need to increase Turkey’s share in the EU market.

Hail to Europe with Turkey/ Hail to European Turkey    

In his speech, IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu said that IKV continued its activities by organising a series of webinars on critical issues concerning Turkey and the EU during the pandemic. Zeytinoğlu praised the success of signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the UK right after the completion of the EU-UK Trade Deal. However, he continued by saying that the fact that the FTA with the UK is not as favourable as the Customs Union with the EU is proof of the significance of the latter for Turkey.

Zeytinoğlu also said that IKV has fulfilled its duty to warn and inform the Turkish public about the adjustments Turkey will be required to make with respect to the European Green Deal. He underlined the ongoing work and efforts to create a Civil Society Platform on this issue. IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu noted that the EU perspective gained even more significance at a time of such critical transformations and finalised his words by saying “Hail to Europe with Turkey and Hail to European Turkey”.    

The newly elected IKV Board of Directors for the period 2021-2023 include Ayhan Zeytinoğlu, Prof. Halûk Kabaalioğlu, Sedat Zincirkıran, Atila Menevşe, İsmail Gülle, Tuncay Şahin, Can Yücaoğlu, Ömer Gülsoy Mehmet Kaya, Dr. Zeynel Abidin Erdem,  Ali Sami Aydın, Celal Kaya, Levent Taş,  Yavuz Altun, Süleyman Uyar, Akansel Koç and Hakkı İsmet Aral. Musfata İçöz and Türker Ateş were elected to serve in the Audit Committee.