Amsterdam – Public ESI event on EU-Turkey relations

13 October 2011
Selim Yenel – Jean-Christophe Filori – Gerald Knaus
Selim Yenel – Jean-Christophe Filori – Gerald Knaus

"Turkey & EU: A lost case? Does it matter?"

Round-table discussion on the future of EU-Turkey relations with Selim Yenel (ambassador-designate of Turkey to the EU), Jean-Christophe Filori (European Commission) and Gerald Knaus (European Stability Initiative),

13 October 2011

CREA, Turfdraagsterpad 17, Amsterdam
8-10pm

From one perspective, Turkish-EU relations have never been closer. Trade, investment, travel of EU citizens to Turkey all point to an ever deepening relationship, not just between governments but between societies. The customs union and the EU accession process have contributed to ever closer relations on all levels.

From another perspective, however, the relationship is today in a deep crisis. "Comatose" is how some observers have described the EU accession process; uncertainty reigns how and if it can ever be brought to a successful conclusion. Distrust of the EU in Turkey has become enormous.

This panel seeks to go beyond the headlines and clichés and take the pulse of the current relationship: what is really going wrong? What is going well? And what could be done by either side to restore trust in one of the most important relationships in European politics today?

The panel includes Selim Yenel, Turkey's ambassador-designate to the EU, currently Under-Secretary for Political Affairs at the Turkish Foreign Ministry; Jean-Christophe Filori, head of the Turkey team at the enlargement department of the European Commission; and Gerald Knaus, chairman of the Istanbul-based think-tank European Stability Initiative;. Lily Sprangers, director of the Turkey Institute (The Hague), will moderate.

On the train from Amsterdam to Brussels: Gerald Knaus, Selim Yenel, Jean Christophe Filori. Photo: ESI
On the train from Amsterdam to Brussels: Gerald Knaus, Selim Yenel, Jean Christophe Filori. Photo: ESI

 

ESI – Turkey Institute – CREA

This event was organised jointly by ESI, the Turkey Institute and CREA, the Cultural Organisation of the University of Amsterdam, and was funded by the European Union.

European Commission

Further reading