IKV organized on the 25 September 2014 a brainstorming meeting on Turkey-EU relations with the participation of representatives from the academia, civil society, private sector and EU experts. This meeting gave the opportunity to establish a platform in which various stakeholders were able to discuss about the future of Turkey-EU relations. The opening speech of the meeting was given by IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan and Undersecretary of the Ministry for EU Affairs Ambassador Rauf Engin Soysal. The meeting was chaired by Asst. Prof. Dr. Nihat Alayoğlu from the Istanbul Commerce University.

In his opening speech, IKV Chairman Vardan highlighted that IKV which was founded in 1965 has been one of the main institutions watching closely Turkey’s EU accession process for over 50 years. He summarized the purpose of organizing this meeting as follows: “Turkey-EU relations are entering a new important phase. Today, we are coming together in order to discuss and to determine how we can accelerate Turkey’s EU accession process. We want to gather all the ideas/suggestions and present them to 62nd Government”.

The Undersecretary of Ministry for EU Affairs Ambassador Rauf Engin Soysal also stressed that we are entering a new phase in Turkey-EU relations.  He also informed that the Ministry for EU Affairs was currently preparing the new Action Plan as stated in the Turkey’s EU Strategy that was public announced on the 18 September 2014. Soysal confirmed that strengthening the Ministry for EU Affairs is of a great significance for Turkey-EU relations. Furthermore, he announced that a special importance will be also given to official visits organized to EU Member States especially to France and Germany.

Evaluating the newly established European Commission, Soysal underlined the ‘high-level’ Commission consisting of 5 former Prime Ministers and 15 former ministers and stated that the new Commission attracts attention for its aims to revise the EU politics and to create within this framework a new synthesis. Soysal also asserted that the EU’s aim to strengthen its Neighbourhood Policy can be a strong leverage in Turkey’s accession process especially in the context of a constant change of dynamics in the near neighbourhood. According to Soysal, “In this regard, the importance of civil society becomes evident once again. NGOs are key actors that can measure the dynamics of the society and can reflect their expectations by serving as a bridge between the society and policy makers”.

Following the opening speeches, the participants discussed and presented their opinions in three different sessions. The first session dealt with the obstacles encountered in the negotiation process. In the second session, the participants presented their suggestions on how to overcome trust and credibility issues within Turkey-EU relations. The third and final session focused on the roles that NGOs could play in supporting Turkey’s EU accession process.