On 29 June 2022, IKV organised a webinar entitled “European Security and the Future of EU Enlargement” as part of the “Future of Europe and Türkiye” Webinar Series carried out in association with Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs. The opening speeches of the webinar, which was moderated by IKV Deputy Secretary General M. Gökhan Kilit, were delivered by IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı.

In her opening speech, IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas emphasized that the security community, seen as the EU’s greatest achievement, was threatened by Russian invasion in Ukraine and the classical understanding of security was revived. Highlighting that the importance of the Article 5 of NATO was re-understood, Assoc. Prof. Nas stated that EU enlargement process has added great dynamism to the EU and accelerated its internal reform process and initiatives in the field of security.

Delivering the second opening speech, Deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Kaymakcı underscored that Türkiye’s contribution to European defense is far greater than that of many European countries. Moreover, Ambassador Kaymakcı stated that Türkiye could consider taking part in the European Political Community provided that this was not seen as an alternative to membership process and the views of the participating countries were to be handled fairly.

Following the opening speeches, the webinar continued with a panel discussion with the participation of distinguished academics. In the panel session, Prof. Tarık Oğuzlu from Istanbul Aydın University, Assoc. Prof. Sinem Kocamaz from Ege University and CEPS Research Fellow Zachary Paikin shared their views on European security in the aftermath of Russia's intervention in Ukraine and the future of the enlargement policy in light of the European Council's decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.