The first part of the “Future Values Training: European sentiment in Turkey among opinion-shapers and youth leaders 2019-2020” project was organised in Brussels with the partnership of IKV, European Neighbourhood Council (ENC) , Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) and Delegation of the European Union to Turkey.

Within the scope of the Future Values Training Programme, general meetings and roundtables on trade relations, financial aid tools, digitalisation, migration, rule of law, renewable energy and environment were held from 28 October to 1 November 2019 at the IKV Brussels Office. The training programme 2019-2020 is the extension of the one which took place between December 2018 and April 2019 with 4 opinion shapers. The programme envisages opinion shapers to share their experience and knowledge gained during general training and one-on-one meetings with different stakeholders in Brussels with students and academics through university lectures across Turkey.

Throughout the Future Values Training, IKV Junior Researcher Merve Özcan focused on trade relations, while IKV Junior Researcher Selvi Eren concentrated on the future of EU institutions. In addition to general meetings, participants held one-on-one interviews with representatives of EU institutions, civil society and private sector, and had the opportunity to conduct in-depth discussions and exchange ideas on their fields of study.

The project is divided into two parts: part one consists of a week of training in Brussels for Turkish opinion shapers, whereas the second part is composed of a series of public university lectures across Turkey, in which the opinion shapers give lectures and discuss Europe's innovative policies and progressive thematic priority areas related to their own work.