On 28-31 January 2019, IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu travelled to Brussels and held a series of meetings to exchange views with senior EU officials on Turkey-EU relations and contribute to Turkey’s integration with the EU which is among the main objectives of IKV. During his meetings, Zeytinoğlu was accompanied by IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas and Brussels Representative Haluk Nuray.

In the context of his exchanges in Brussels, IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu came together with Turkey's Permanent Delegate to the EU Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay. During the meeting, Zeytinoğlu informed the ambassador about IKV’s activities planned for 2019. Zeytinoğlu stressed that IKV continues contributing to Turkey's EU accession process and working for Turkey’s full membership to the EU despite the problems and delays in the process. Ambassador Bozay thanked Chairman Zeytinoğlu for his visit and offered his support for IKV’s upcoming activities in Brussels.

Following the Permanent Delegation, IKV Chairman and the accompanying delegation began their exchanges at EU institutions with a meeting with Johannes Noack who is in charge of Turkey at Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Hahn's cabinet. Turkey's EU accession negotiations as well as Commissioner Hahn’s activities and views on Turkey-EU relations were the main issues discussed at the meeting. Chairman Zeytinoğlu said that he continues following Turkey's goal of EU membership and pointed to the importance of EU's support for accelerating this process. Apart from the revival of Turkey-EU accession negotiations, Zeytinoğlu stated that the launch of negotiations for the modernization of the Customs Union could provide momentum to Turkey-EU relations and underscored the need to remove the political vetoes blocking the process. Zeytinoğlu stated that the fact that the visa liberalisation process has not been completed continues to cause problems and constitutes a serious physical and psychological barrier.

Following his meeting with Noack, Chairman Zeytinoğlu came together with Thomas Frellesen who is the Head of European External Relations Service’s Turkey Desk. During his exchanges at the EEAS, which is the EU institution responsible for EU’s foreign and security policy, Chairman Zeytinoğlu underscored that Turkey could offer important contributions for the EU to become a global actor and increase its influence in the region. Moreover, he emphasized the possible areas for cooperation in foreign and security policy. Lastly, Chairman Zeytinoğlu met with Bernard Brunet, Head of Turkey Unit at European Commission’s DG NEAR. During the meeting, European Commission’s country report to be issued in 2019 was discussed and the potential steps needed to revive Turkey-EU relations were emphasized.

Participation in the EUROCHAMBRES Meeting:

On the last day of his visit to Brussels, Chairman Zeytinoğlu attended the EUROCHAMBRES Extraordinary Meeting of Members which took place at the TOBB Brussels Representation. The meeting was hosted by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu who is also the Vice President of EUROCHAMBRES, the umbrella organisation bringing together European chambers of commerce and industry. European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Günther Oettinger, who attended the meeting as a special guest, emphasized the importance of defending European values against rising populism and indicated that the EP elections which will take place in May will be extremely important for the future of the EU. President Zeytinoğlu addressed a question to Oettinger regarding the shares to be allocated to candidate countries such as Turkey from the EU budget.  Oettinger indicated that the EU will continue to provide support for the projects that improve Turkey’s alignment with the EU acquis and its relations with the EU.