I had the opportunity to attend the introductory meeting for the Twin Cities Project between Turkish and EU Municipalities that took place in Ankara on 31st January till 4 February.
The meeting was supported by a number of high profile institutions, notably the EU Delegation Office in Turkey, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP Turkey), the Turkish Union of Municipalities, and the Ministry of Interior and Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU). It hosted 10 Turkish and 15 European local authorities who gave presentations about works of local authorities. The meeting grouped a number of Turkish Municipalities from all geographical parts of Turkey and gave the participants a very comprehensive view of the problems that these Municipalities face.
Workshops were held on various themes including social services, environmental issues, local economic development, tourism and culture. Participating Municipalities had the opportunity to exchange good practice and to discuss problems and opportunities in each of these fields. We learnt a lot from each other as we shared ideas on how citizens’ issues can be solved. We all enjoyed the great hospitality of the organisers and were grateful to them for the experience.
One of the main aims of the meeting was to help Turkish Municipalities implement locally the EU ‘acquis’ that affect citizens in every part of their daily lives. Although the meeting had a ‘Europeanisation’ agenda, it also had a ‘citizen empowerment’ dimension, as initiatives came from the people who are far away from the decision-making process of Brussels.
One innovation of the meeting was that Municipalities that opted to cooperate together would do so in a structured way after having chosen a particular policy and theme. Therefore, this was not another ‘happy hippie twinning for peace’ exercise but rather a strategy that will bring Municipalities together in a detailed, practical and well-planned manner.
I admired the will of various Turkish Municipal administrations to transform the lives of their citizens and to get engaged in new projects. Turkish Municipalities are already experimenting with innovative techniques and are eager to learn more. They have a huge potential for economic, social and cultural development. And so has Turkey overall: a country that is booming, opening up to new ideas and methods of cooperation.
I am sure that the event will spur a new wave of cooperation amongst cities. In the case of Greece and Turkey, I do hope that the development of Municipal cooperation projects will contribute to bringing together the two sides of the Aegean. We need this rapprochement more than ever before.
#1 by Frida Barrett on February 14, 2011 - 8:46 am
Dear Vasilis,
I think that it was a great article! I will try to gather some “island contact details” and forward them to you soon hopefully.
Best regards,
Frida
#2 by Can Yucekul on February 14, 2011 - 9:53 am
Dear Vasilis
I think you are very good at observing the vital facts which enlighten important details in shade.
I believe these kind of articles will assist to initiate a strong mutual understanding process between us and Europe.
Best Regards
Can Yucekul
#3 by Ferhat Emil on February 15, 2011 - 6:46 pm
Dear Vasilis,
Your article portrays all the facts that our conference aimed at achieving. We were happy to have you and all other friends from both Turkish and EU municipalities.Thanks to you all making the conference very lively and exciting .
Keep in touch and all the best
Ferhat EMİL
#4 by Mark Herlihy on February 18, 2011 - 8:27 pm
Dear Vasilis:
This is, as are many of your posts, a very illuminating article. I congratulate you on having created a very useful blog, and I hope it continues.
Best regards,
Mark Herlihy
Institute of International Economic Law
#5 by sophie on February 21, 2011 - 10:35 am
dear mr Vasilis
unlike the above cheerleading brigade, i have not found your articles illuminating. you are an EU consultant so you are not objective. in this capacity you have advised greek municipalities, so i can only advise turkish municipalities to go ahead with whatever they have been doing quite well and ignore your lights.
of course they can learn from others, sharing experiences is important but the EU is not central to this process. bilateral ties can bring much more.
turkey is doing well without the EU. in fact it is doing well because it is implementing liberal reforms, not the kind of top-down, know-best eurocratic policies you preach.
you seem to omit one fundamental point here. the financial cost of integration and the application of the acquis. should turkish minicipalities rush to apply the expensive acquis with no hope of accession? why should eurocrats decide what laws should apply when Turks have no say ? (not that EU citizens have any but that is another issue).
the EU way is not the panacea for bettering the lives of citizens. for greece it has been a disastrous. your country has sadly become an EU protectorate where the people are no longer sovereign.
but i am glad for one thing about your article. you have discovered that Turkey is doing well and that its people are incredibly dynamic. its liberal economy is the engine of this growth changing the lives of ordinary turks for the better. although you would hate to admit it, it is doing well because it is outside the statist, undemocratic, debt-ridden EU. perhaps Turkish consultant should advise you?
best
sophie
#6 by Josep on February 22, 2011 - 10:33 pm
Well I think the article argues for a bottom-up approach Sophie,,,so you slightly misread it! And it mostly focuses on cooperation between municipalities which overall I think it is a positive think..it is neither pro or anti-EU. Turkey is already applying the EU acquis in many of its policies anyway as it is compulsory for all sorts of dealings with the EU.
#7 by Basil on February 28, 2011 - 1:47 pm
Dear Vasili,
Well done for your article. Unfortunately, although the EU preaches decentralisation, projects implemented through local governments are few and far between. However there are some good examples. In Serbia, through the Exchange programme, municipalities from the EU are teaming up with Serbian ones addressing tangible problems. In Syria, a municipal programme running since 2004 is bringing municipalities from Syria and Turkey together. As programmes encouraging “Business 2 Business” enjoy a large degree of success, so can “Municipality 2 Municipality” even they can have similar support.
Best regards
Bas
#8 by Hans Martin HUSEBY on March 16, 2011 - 2:09 pm
dear friend,
to me turkey need lots of movement to integrate to the EU level living system and that means at least 5 decades or more so lets see if turkey and its citizens may able to integrate their values and especially economic stability to the EU LEVEL…thnx.regards,
H.M.Huseby
#9 by Aydin Deniz on March 17, 2011 - 3:25 pm
Dear Hans Martin Huseby,
You seem to have almost no information but alot of thoughts and ideas about Turkish economy.
You should learn facts before having ideas.
Regards,
Aydin
#10 by paginas web on November 22, 2011 - 9:20 pm
I think it’s a rather sensitive issue, Turkey should move forward even if the EU lacks objectivity, it is important to take as an example what happened with Greece, I believe that sharing experiences and unifying can reach a better solution. excellent article
regards