Welcome to the Herr Excellency Ambassador of the European Union, Distinguished Scholars and Dear Students,
We are here today for inaugurating the second year of activities of the ANAMER project. The “Orta Anadolu Avrupa Mukemmeliyet Merkezy”. Supported by the European Union’s Erasnus plus programme. We are here to discuss again about the relations between the EU and Turkey.
The European Union is today a big reality of 28 Member States and a long waiting list, including Turkey.
Its nucleus is represented by the Single European Market where people, labour, goods, services, capitals and enterprises circulate freely for the benefit of all. A big economic reality made up of 500 million consumers. Economically the EU is linked to Turkey through a Custom Union Treaty, entered into force in 1995. The total dimension of the two markets is of about 580 million consumers and about 30 million enterprises. This big free market which extends from Norway to Turkey, interchanges every year goods, services and investments for more than 4 billion euro. Something corresponding to 5 times the GDP of Turkey. And near to the double of the GDP of France. This tells us about the potentialities of a higher economic integration between the European Union and Turkey. This issue, namely the so-called modernisation of the EU-Turkey Custom Union is on the table. The main elements of this modernization can be indicated as follows: 1) Agriculture, 2) Services, 3) Government procurements, 4) Regulatory coherence, 5) Sustainable development, 5) Investment protection and 6) Dispute settlements.
This modernization is important not just for the benefit of Turkey and EU. We know we live in times in which challenges to free trade are stronger. A reaction is needed. If the EU and Turkey will be able further liberalize their trade relations, they will jointly provide to the world a positive example in times in which we see protectionist tendencies emerging, not in a small country but in the biggest economic power of the world. Out of doubt no prosperity can be achieved by creating obstacles to the free circulation of goods and services. History teaches us that protectionism has triggered just but evil consequences.
Besides economic relations I would like to underline here the importance of cultural relations and of the Erasmus program. Mobility of students and of teachers is essential for the mutual understanding among European themselves and between Europe and Turkey.
Trough teaching and student mobility, we can create mutual understanding among Europeans and between Europeans and Turks.
This point was very clear at the beginning of the thirties to the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig (Note: the EU Ambassador is from Austria). I remember that Zweigh had to leave Austria because of the Nazi regime, he went to Brasil.
I want to remember also that Turkey in the 30 hosted Wilhelm Roepke, an many other German scholars. Our distinguished novelist Ayşe Kulin has described all this in her novel Kanadı Kırık Kuşlar.
Zweigh in November 1932, at the Accademia d'Italia in Rome, delivered a speech under the title of “Moral detoxification of Europe”. Where he dealt with how detoxify Europe from the rampant nationalism of those years.
He suggested what we call now teaching mobility
“It has been a long time since I think it is necessary to have a pact between states and universities that grants students the international recognition of a semester or year of study at a foreign university”.
Zweigh added thoughtful considerations about the need to look differently at history. Not just a history made up of battles and wars but a history of civilizations. This last is uniting, the first one is dividing: “while the history of wars on the whole it is only an incessant salts and descents, the history of civilization indicates an incessant, unstoppable rise, a rising upwards”. “In the history of wars, peoples appear only as enemies, in the history of civilization as brothers, thanks to it they understand that each nation is enriching for the other, that an invention has been completed by an invention”.
Though the history of civilizations we understand that every activity, unlike war, increases common well-being.
Europe and Turkey have a lot to write as far as history of civilization is concerned.
Our University, and especially the Faculty of Political Sciences and its two Departments of Economics and International Relations, since 2013 have payed attention to the process of European Integration. We offer to our students, both at undergraduate and graduate level, different courses on the process of European integration and its relations with Turkey. We are running, with the financial support of the Erasmus plus – Jean Monnet program of the European Commission, a wide project involving, including AYBU, seven universities.
ANAMER aims to set-up a regional-trans regional network of Turkish universities in the field of European studies. In its regional dimension ANAMER gathers five Central Anatolian universities, to attain a region-wide impact of the envisaged activities:
• Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, AYBU Coordinator;
• Ankara Social Sciences University, ASBU;
• Çankiri Karatekin University, CKU;
• Eskişehir Osmangazi University, EOU;
• Necmettin Erbakan University, NEU;
and two extra-regional Universities of the Aegean/Izmir region
• Dokuz Eylul University, DEU, Izmir
• Manisa Celal Bayar University, MCBU
ANAMER’s ultimate purpose to make Europe and Turkey closer.
ANAMER is the first Turkish project aiming to create links and interdisciplinary (economics, international relations, political science, social policy, tourism and law) synergies among universities working on EU issues.
ANAMER aims at creating strong synergies among the participating universities to re-boost European studies in Turkey and improving their quality at the same time. Dissemination of knowledge on EU will be the driving force of our actions.
For these reasons ANAMER has adopted two mottos.
“We unite peoples” by Jean Monnet and
“Knowledge is more important than everything”, by the renowned Sufi scholar Mevlana.
A feature of ANAMER is debating activities. These activities will focus on topical issues related with EU political and economic development, with reference to Turkey’s accession issues and those related to it. Namely: migration and refugee crisis, Brexit, Fundamental Rights, Justice, Freedom and Security, are the object of research programmes and will be widely debated.
In conclusion I would like to state the importance of culture in maintaining close and good relations among countries. Europe and Turkey share a huge common cultural patrimony, they share common foundations. Our cultural integration is as ancient as our economic integration. Let’s leverage on these two common grounds for our better future.
Prof. Dr. Metin DOĞAN
Rector of Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University