4TH CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUE MEETING

4th Civil Society Dialogue Meeting was held at Cevahir Congress Centre in Istanbul with the participation of Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, Egemen Bagis and Secretary General, Ambassador Volkan Bozkir on the 10th anniversary of the foundation of Secretariat General for EU Affairs.

At the meeting which was held four times in the last two years, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, Egemen Bagis and Secretary General, Ambassador Volkan Bozkir hosted NGO's, local governments and EU Youth Clubs.

Indicating that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of the greatest architects of Turkey's EU Accession process, Bagis said,

To believe in Turkey's EU Membership is to believe in Turkey's change and transformation. It is to advocate the respect for freedom and living space of each individual. Of course change requires courage and self-sacrifice. One of the most important powers against the status quo supporters intending to hinder this change is the intellectual and conscious persons who will take the chance of advocating this change, and the civil society organizations who will freely raise their voice for fundamental rights and freedoms.

Expressing that they are progressing in the EU Accession process not with the childish enthusiasms any more but with the determined policies and implementations, Bagis said that the chapters were opened not through the enthusiasms but through the policies.

Underlining the importance they attribute to the communication, continued as follows:

"Within the framework of Turkey's EU Communication Strategy, we are striving for revitalizing Anatolia's enthusiasm and expanding the decisions taken to every single corner of our country during our EU accession process. We are performing large and small scale activities in EU Member States in order to express Turkey properly and to ensure the most proper perception of Turkey. We are waiting for you to submit us tangible, realizable project proposals. The only government institution which embodies a Directorate of Civil Society, Communication & Culture is EUSG. EUSG's Directorate of Civil Society, Communication & Culture is ready to work with you and serve you. We performed more than 600 activities only in France last year."

At the opening of the meeting, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, Egemen Bagis and the Mayor of İstanbul, Kadir Topbas signed the protocol of the Project "Municipalities Preparing for the EU", which will be implemented under the coordination of EUSG and Turkish Association of Municipalities.

Speaking about the Project, Bagis said, "With this protocol, we will make studies with different municipalities from Turkey's 81 different provinces, on how to achieve a better progress in the EU Accession process, how to use the EU funds better and how to expand the EU enthusiasm, standards, developed democracy, transparency to every single corner of Turkey."

Source: AA