Turkish Local Media on the EU Path I-II Project

Under the motto of “EU arises from the local” a project called the “Turkish Local Media on the EU Path” between June 2011 and June 2013 was held. Its aim was to inform the public correctly on EU related matters and providing a better understanding of the EU membership process at the local level. Additionally the project focused on further strengthen the existing communication network and to encourage the local media to follow up Türkiye’s EU accession process more closely and to include them in the process.

The first phase of the project included the local media representatives and the local representatives of national media institutions, who have an important role in constituting the agenda of the public opinion. 10 regional information seminars were held in 10 different cities (İstanbul, Ankara, Erzurum, Elazığ, Sivas, Ordu, Şanlıurfa, İzmir, Muğla, Mersin) covering all 81 cities of Türkiye. At the initial planning envisaged the training of 250 members of local media, however the number of applications to the seminars reached 814. The first phase of the project ended up with the training of 500 local media members from 81 cities. The second phase of the project included 7 regional information seminars in 7 different cities (Afyon, Balıkesir, Isparta, Karabük, Kayseri, Siirt, Artvin) covering all 81 cities of Türkiye. 300 local media members had the opportunity to participate to the seminars.at the second phase.  A total of 800 local media members were reached through 17 regional information seminars.

During the information seminars, the participants had the opportunity to be trained on the functioning of the EU, Türkiye’s EU accession process, the EU’s financial assistance opportunities, EU programs and funds for the media, Türkiye’s EU Communication Strategy and the concrete impact of Türkiye’s EU accession process on the daily life of citizens.

After the completion of the seminars, two study visits were organized to Brussels and London with 17 local media members, selected from each seminar by lottery. Turkish local media representatives had the opportunity to visit the EU institutions, to meet with local media in the EU, and to share their experiences with their European colleagues.