Directorate for EU Affairs Projects

In regard to EU accession process, Ministry for EU Affairs, have developed a lot of projects regarding civil society and the public. The projects are developed for increasing the efficiency of public and civil society in Türkiye, enhancing the dialogue process regarding EU affairs, introducing EU to more masses in Türkiye and introducing Türkiye to more masses in EU. These projects are listed below:

Civil Society Dialogue Between EU and Türkiye - I

Cooperation and dialogue between the citizens of Türkiye and the EU is an indispensable complementary component of the negotiations incorporating the civil society organizations to the accession process. Hence, supporting civil society dialogue between Türkiye and the EU member states is a key priority under the EU financial assistance to Türkiye.

Within this regard, the Ministry for EU Affairs has implemented the “Civil Society Dialogue between the EU and Türkiye (CSD) Project” since 2008 with the aim of promoting cooperation among civil societies in the EU and Türkiye.

Funded under the “Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)”, the CSD project brings together civil society organisations from Türkiye and the EU around common topics, to exchange knowledge and experience, and to build a sustained conversation between the organisations. Since its launch, the CSD project has supported several partnerships in many different fields, witnessing thousands of activities, to bring EU and Turkish communities closer together and to create a greater mutual understanding amongst them.   

Within the first phase of the project comprising the years 2008-2009, 119 projects were funded with a budget amounting to 19.3 million Euros. Supported priority areas were “Towns and Municipalities”, “Professional Organizations”, “Universities” and “Youth Initiatives for Dialogue”.

To read more about the dialogue projects of the first phase and their stories visit here.

Civil Society Dialogue Between EU and Türkiye - II

In the second phase of the Programme, focusing on Culture & Arts, and Agriculture & Fisheries, 41 dialogue projects were successfully completed, with a budget of over 5 million Euros and involving more than 160 different CSOs from Türkiye and the EU. In addition, almost 300 thousand Euros supported the award of micro grants that helped small size dialogue ideas of CSOs.

To read more about dialogue projects and their stories visit here.

In addition to the main components of the programme, small scale project ideas towards developing a dialogue were supported with grants of a maximum fve thousand Euros. With these micro grants, partnerships were developed between civil society organisations from Türkiye and EU and activities were organised to share best practices.

To read more about dialogue projects and their stories visit here. (Turkish)

Civil Society Dialogue Between EU and Türkiye - III

The third phase of the Programme hosted  dialogue projects from civil society organisations and institutions from Türkiye and Europe that are active in the fields of media and the EU accession political criteria. 2.1 million Euros was granted to 16 dialogue projects of media institutions, to help support their role in making the EU, its values and the benefits of membership better known to the public both in Türkiye and the EU member states. Grants amounting to 4.9 million Euros were awarded to 39 projects on three main priorities: human rights, anti-discrimination and democracy and the rule of law with the goal of enabling civil society to make its contributions to the political reform process and to assist it in conveying the results of this process to the public.

To read more about dialogue projects and their stories visit here.

In parallel to the grants, a series of dialogue seminars were organised to create a strong network between civil society organisations, media members and public officials as the primary actors in the accession process. Dialogue Seminars were held in 6 provinces to strengthen the capacity of these actors to work collectively to support improved understanding of EU-Türkiye relations.

Please visit http://civilsocietydialogue.org/dialogue-seminars/ for more information.

Civil Society Dialogue Between EU and Türkiye - IV

In 2015, the Civil Society Dialogue project continued with nine different calls for proposals for new grant projects. In this fourth phase of the programme, projects across nine acquis and policy areas of the EU are supported with a total budget of 11 million Euros. These areas include Environment; Energy; Consumer and Health Protection; Justice, Freedom and Security; Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services; Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Elements; Enterprise and Industrial Policy; Agriculture and Fisheries; and Education.

To read more about dialogue projects and their stories visit here.

Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme

Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme which has been implemented for more than 25 years is one of the most well-established and prestigious scholarship programmes in Türkiye. The Programme aims at contributing to the human capital of Türkiye specialized on the EU acquis.

Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme which was established in 1989 with an agreement in between the Republic of Türkiye and European Commission, facilitates people to get specialized on fields related to Türkiye’s harmonization process and the EU acquis. Jean Monnet Scholarships enable the opportunity for public and private sector (including civil society organizations) employees, university students and academic/administrative staff of the universities in Türkiye to conduct a postgraduate study in EU member countries.

Turkish Local Media on the EU Path I-II Project

Under the motto “EU arises from the local”, Ministry for EU Affairs implemented the “Turkish Local Media on the EU Path” project between June 2011and June 2013 with the aim of informing the public correctly on EU related matters and providing a better understanding of the EU membership process at the local level. The objective of the project was to further strengthen the existing communication network between the Ministry for European Union Affairs and the local media, to encourage the local media to follow up Türkiye’s EU accession process more closely and to include them in the process.  

EUSG Young Translators Competition

EUGS Young Translators Competition - 2010" was held in Ankara on 12 December 2010 by the Secretariat General for EU Affairs (EUGS) with the aim to increase the awareness in terms of translation throughout the EU accession process and to improve the cooperation, initially, among the universities and the youth.

Services Project

The Ministry for EU Affairs has initiated the implementation of a comprehensive technical assistance project, namely "Support to Preparation of the National Strategy for Harmonization with the EU Acquis in the Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services” in September 2014 to meet the only technical benchmark for opening of the Chapter 3, which requires Türkiye to prepare a detailed strategy covering all steps necessary for institutional capacity building and legislative alignment.

Technical Assistance for Supporting Public Institutions for Tendering Preparations – STEP

The STEP Project provided Technical Assistance for Supporting Public Institutions for Tendering Preparations, which also explains what the “STEP” abbreviation stands for. The main goal of the Project was to improve institutional capacity of public institutions in Türkiye to ensure optimal and efficient use of IPA II funds and achieve more effective and stronger public administration. Project activities focused inter alia on the elaboration and review of numerous technical and tendering documents for various types of contracts governed by Practical Guide for Procurement and Grants for European Union External Actions (PRAG) and FIDIC conditions of contracts, their quality assurance, capacity building actions for the main actors partaking in tendering process and preparation of a manual of procedures for key stakeholders implementing IPA programmes and projects. The initiative was co-funded by the EU and the Republic of Türkiye. The Project was implemented from 24 April 2018 to 30 November 2020. Please click here for downloading the "Manual of Procedures - Tendering in EU-funded Projects" which is one of the key outputs of the project.

Technical Assistance for Strengthening Fundamental Rights Sector Coordination (FRSC) Project

The Technical Assistance Project on Strengthening Fundamental Rights Sector Coordination is funded under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) II within the scope of Türkiye-EU Financial Cooperation. The Project is being carried out in close cooperation with all relevant stakeholders in Türkiye, with three components and with a unique operational plan.

The Project follows a methodology that handles fundamental rights issues over thematic areas and that involves public institutions, international organizations and NGOs. Under the project, a total of 10 thematic areas are identified as a result of meetings with the stakeholders.

The thematic areas are as follows;

• Freedom of Expression and Information

• Prevention of Torture and Ill-Treatment

• Freedom of Assembly and Association

• Women's Rights

• Children's Rights

• Disabled People’s Rights

• Institutionalization of Human Rights

• Fight Against Discrimination

• Protection of Fundamental Rights, Including Personal Data, in the Digital Age

• Horizontal Issues

The Project promotes and supports a common understanding of 10 thematic topics pertaining to fundamental rights and fosters coordination and cooperation in the field of fundamental rights along with enhancing the capacity of stakeholders.

The Fundamental Rights Sector Coordination platform, established under the project, focuses on related 10 thematic areas and provides a specific approach to contribute to the development of quality projects in each programming period in the fundamental rights sub-field.

The Project aims to develop capacity regarding the EU acquis and best practices in the field of fundamental rights. The content of capacity development activities includes, in addition to the EU Acquis, the regulations of the Council of Europe and the United Nations, of which Türkiye is a member, and the OSCE, of which we are one of the participating countries, in the field of fundamental rights. Capacity development activities were carried out through Fundamental Rights Training from the EU and Accession Perspective and trainings in the thematic areas.

The Project also aims to raise awareness about fundamental rights among stakeholders and the public in that regard, raising-awareness activities are carried out through all social media platforms effectively.

News about the projects implemented in the field of fundamental rights and recent developments regarding fundamental rights in the EU are announced to stakeholders through newsletters twice a year.

The project was planned to be completed in January 2024 but received an extension of 4 months with a new component on disaster management.  The focus will be integrating fundamental rights and equality between men and women perspective to the preparation, response and rehabilitation of  disasters.  During the extension period, guidelines to better meet the needs of women, children and disabled citizens will be prepared and trainings and awareness activities on disaster management will be conducted.

The implementation period of the project is 28 months and the budget is 1.6 million euros. The project will be completed on May 18, 2024.

Website of the Project on Strengthening Fundamental Rights Sector Coordination: ipatemelhaklar.ab.gov.tr/en