Oliver Rieche (LLM, 2014) was one of ten Germans selected to participate in this year's Turkey Europe Future Forum, taking place from July 7-14 in Istanbul and Eskisehir under the title "Turkey and the EU: Overcoming Common Challenges and Bilateral Tensions." The conference focused on the current state of political, economic and social relations between Turkey and Europe in order to identify new ways for sustainable cooperation.
Welcome back! How was it?
One word: incredible. Despite a severe lack of sleep, I have come back with a renewed sense of energy – mainly due to the fantastic participants themselves! Besides Turkey and Germany, the 30 participants were drawn from all over Europe, from Serbia, Romania, Greece to the Netherlands; a mixed crowd also in terms of professional backgrounds (diplomats, civil society, private sector, academia, cultural sector, United Nations, European Parliament, journalism, human rights).
The vast majority of participants had a strong affinity to Turkey and EU Turkey relations, whether they had studied in Turkey, spoke Turkish or dealt with Turkey professionally. There was a vast pool of knowledge all in one room; it really motivated me to immerse myself and learn as much as possible. We openly discussed, argued, listened to each other and exchanged ideas.
That sounds fantastic. And how did your presentation go?
I believe it went rather well! I had prepared a presentation comparing the situation of LGBT+ rights in England to Turkey. I was hoping it would lead to a good debate amongst the participants. I was initially a little apprehensive as my presentation was on the first official day of the conference, we didn’t know each other well yet and I didn’t know whether the topic would be too controversial in Turkey. However, I was happy to see how many people were interested in the topic. Some of the Turkish participants emphasised how much the LGBT+ minorities suffer in Turkey and often have to live double lives, particularly vis-à-vis their families.
One of the participants, who works as a diplomat in Ankara, explained that his embassy regularly worked with the Turkish LGBT+ population who were completely dependent on international support. His embassy often reaped hate mail as a result. But, of course, even in Europe we are not where we need to be when it comes to LGBT+ equality - something this debate also quite rightly highlighted.
My presentation was embedded in a talk discussing the state of human rights in Turkey more generally. Unfortunately, the conclusion was unsurprisingly sobering: it was foreseen that the current situation would not change until there is a change of government.
What did the remaining days look like?
Every day was packed to the brim with exciting round table discussions, workshops, site visits and more presentations. We discussed the role of the media in Turkey, listened to a panel discussion on cultural diplomacy regarding EU Turkey relations, debated private and public sector initiatives on how to promote positive change within society, to name but a few items on our busy agenda.
For a couple of days, we undertook a field trip to Eskisehir, an important university town in north-western Turkey. We had the honour to meet its mayor, Yılmaz Büyükerşen, who had contributed to the city’s progressive spirit which we got to explore a little bit.
What happens now, after the conference?
For the the last two days of the Forum, we were joined by 50 alumni from previous years. This allowed us to become part of the official alumni network. During a boat cruise on the Bosporus, we networked with the alumni to discuss follow-up project ideas. We are currently working on a project idea which focusses on EU-Turkish co-operation in migration policy.
In the immediate future, we are going to meet in November in Berlin for a weekend get together – a sign that through this incredibly enriching week we have not only become part of a phenomenal network but have also made lasting friendships beyond borders.
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