IPC – Sabancı University – Stiftung Mercator Initiative Inaugural Event

On February 1, 2012, after months of hard work and planning, the partnership between Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) and Stiftung Mercator officially kicked off with an intellectually stimulating discussion on “Policy Challenges for Turkey and the EU: A 2012 Perspective.” The event, at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Istanbul, highlighted the IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative, the heart of the partnership, which focuses on three core thematic areas of cooperation: climate change, EU/German-Turkish relations, and education. 

The event opened with the warm welcoming remarks from Güler Sabancı, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı University, who emphasized the importance of the Initiative for the future of Turkish-German relations. Nihat Berker, President of Sabancı University, spoke next, and stressed the significance of the German-Turkish youth exchange programs co-organized by Stiftung Mecator and Sabancı University. Fuat Keyman, Director of IPC, combined both sentiments in stating that “this partnership will be built on the subjects of living together, social policies, and climate change. We want to contribute to the NGOs especially on the subject of climate change, and provide scholarships for the young scholars who are immersed in the three core areas of the Initiative. We will hold comparative studies on climate change, renewable energy, and contemporary trends of the urban transformation in key German and Turkish cities.”