The closing ceremony of the sixth phase of the “Civil Society Dialogue Program between Türkiye and the European Union” and third phase of the “Civil Society Support Program” implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate for EU Affairs financed under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) was held in Antalya on 19 December 2022 with the online participation of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı.
Representatives of civil society who have completed their projects supported under the sixth period of “Civil Society Dialogue Programme between Türkiye and the European Union” and the third period of the “Civil Society Support Program”, other organizations, public institutions and universities attended the closing ceremony which Andre Etienne LYS, Head of Financial Cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye, Barbaros Murat Köse, Deputy Head of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, and Bülent Özcan, Director General for Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation at the Directorate for EU Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered opening speeches. As part of Civil Society Dialogue VI and Civil Society Support Program III implemented in 2021-2022, civil society organizations in Türkiye and the European Union implemented 67 projects with a total budget of approximately 7.9 million Euro in various thematic areas such as environment, culture and arts, education, vulnerable groups, business world.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Kaymakcı congratulated the 67 projects completed under the relevant grant programs and emphasized that civil society is one of the important actors of the EU process. Ambassador Kaymakcı underlined that as part of “Civil Society Dialogue between Türkiye and the European Union” and the “Civil Society Support Program”, which have been carried out with the financing of the European Union since 2008, a total of 66,439, 831 million Euro of support has been provided to 529 projects performed by civil society organizations in our country with their partners in EU countries in many fields such as environment, energy, food, sectoral cooperation, entrepreneurship, human rights, culture and arts, vulnerable groups, education and youth.
During the ceremony, the historical processes and achievements of the “Civil Society Dialogue Program between Türkiye and the European Union” and “Civil Society Support Program” carried out by the Directorate for EU Affairs were elucidated by Mehmet Ömürbek, Coordinator of the Civil Society Dialogue Program between Türkiye and the EU, Directorate for EU Affairs, Project Implementation Department.
The launch presentation of the Civil Society Dialogue Türkiye Network, established by civil society organizations implemented projects under the “Civil Society Dialogue between Türkiye and the European Union” and “Civil Society Support Program”, was made by, Secretary General of TURKONFED Arda BATU, Secretary General of TAV, Emre Gür and Secretary General of KAGiDER, Yeşim Müftüler Seviğ.
Civil society organizations that came together as part of the closing program had the opportunity to share their success stories with each other.
