What Does Turkey Think? – launch in Sofia
The event launched the report What Does Turkey Think?, authored by Dimitar Bechev in Sofia. It was organized at the European Parliament Informational Office in Bulgaria.
Guests
Violeta Stanicic, Head of the European Parliament Information Office for Bulgaria
H.E. Ismail Aramaz, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Bulgaria
Metin Kazak, Member of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee
ECFR Sofia organized the launch of its report What Does Turkey Think with the support of the European Parliament Information Office. The report includes essays by leading political commentators, members of political parties, academics, journalists presenting key public debates in the run-up to the general elections on 12 June. Over the past decade, Turkey has emerged – thanks to its impressive economic growth, the progress scored in domestic democratization and Ankara’s proactive regional diplomacy – as an influential actor in the Middle East and North Africa, the Black Sea region, the Caucasus as well as in the Balkans. But this rise is accompanied with heated public debates inside the country. Questions include: Will the future constitution bridge the political and ethno-cultural cleavages in Turkish society? Is Turkey moving towards democratic consolidation as membership negotiations with the EU have now slowed down? What is the perspective before Turkey’s neighbourhood policy? Does the Arab spring advance or undermine Ankara’s strategy? In the report you will find clashing opinions and perspectives on all these questions.
What Does Turkey Think? was a joint project of the Center for Liberal Strategies, the European Council on Foreign Relations, EDAM (Turkey), made possible by Stiftung Mercator.