IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu and IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas delivered speeches in Kartepe Summit on 26-28 October. Conferences, workshops and special sessions took place within the scope of the Kartepe Summit 2018 of which main theme was Migration, Immigration and Humanity.

While speaking at the panel entitled “Civilisation and Migration” held during the first day of the summit, IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu stressed the importance of international cooperation on migration and asylum and stated that the fight against the motivations which lead people to leave their homes and to migrate should be done together. Chairman Zeytinoğlu also emphasised the need for the utilisation of infrastructure projects in places where refugees are concentrated with the project finance provided for Syrians in accordance with 18 March 2016 Turkey-EU Statement.

During the panel entitled “Migration and Economy” realised on the second day of the summit, while expressing that the advanced Western economies are seeking qualified migrants, IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas marked countries such as Australia, the US, Germany and the UK are implementing various programmes to attract qualified migrants. Stating that data from Europe and the US indicates that immigrants contribute to the labour force in the most dynamic sectors of the economy, Nas reflected that the migration generated the 47 percent of the increase in the labour force in the US, and 70 percent in Europe, between the years 2004-2014.