Within the scope of “E-Twinning Café -  Small Talk with Colleagues at Local Authorities”, which was organised under “Town Twinning between Turkey and EU (TWIN) Project”, representatives of local authorities from Turkey and EU came together on 3 December 2020.

The e-Twinning Café was an online platform in order to sharing their priorities and discuss potential further collaborations in the future. 

After the opening remarks given by Bülent Özcan, the General Director of Directorate for EU Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation, the event proceeded with the one-on-one meetings between local authorities.

The online International Town Twinning Summit (TWINT Online) was held on 12-13 November 2020 within the scope of the “Town Twinning between Turkey and the EU” (TWIN) Project. Opening speeches for the event were delivered by the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and President of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey Ms. Fatma Şahin, the President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and Vice President of the Congress of the Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Mr. Anders Knape, Chairman of the Local Administration Policies Council, Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Prof. Dr. Mr. Şükrü Karatepe, Head of the Delegation of European Union to Turkey Ambassador Mr. Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut  and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs & Director for EU Affairs, Ambassador Mr. Faruk Kaymakcı.

Organized in Brussels each year, the European Week of Regions and Cities is a significant event both for regional and local authorities. Within this scope, Turkey was represented for the first time by the Town Twinning Between Turkey and the EU Project (TWIN) in the 17th European Week of Regions and Cities between 7-10th of October 2019. Arranged within the scope of the project, the information and promotion stand named ‘Town Twinning: Connecting Europe and Turkey, was a point of attraction.

Seventh Steering Meeting Committee was held on 9 March 2020, with the participation of representatives from Directorate for European Union Affairs (DEUA), Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU), Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT), Union of Provinces (UP) and Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, Directorate-General for Local Authorities (MeEU-DGLA) as well as Delegation of the European Union to Turkey (observer).

The fourth study visit of TWIN Project was held between 24-28 February 2020 in Czechia. Representatives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Union of Provinces, Counties Association, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization Directorate-General of Local Authorities, Mayors of Çanakkale and Uşak and the General Secretary of Sivas Special Provincial Administration participated in the visit organized with the aim to establish sustainable cooperation and partnership by banding the Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Counties Association and local government representatives together with their counterparts in Czechia.

Sixth Steering Meeting Committee was held on 11 February 2020, with the participation of representatives from Directorate for European Union Affairs (DEUA), Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU), Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT), Union of Provinces (UP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as Delegation of the European Union to Turkey (observer).

Within the scope of the TWIN Project, a study visit to Croatia was organized between February 3-7, 2020 to exchange views with institutions actively engaged in town twinning as well as municipalities, unions of municipalities and local authorities networks that carry out works aligned with good practices. The participants of TWIN's 3rd study visit were a delegation comprised of: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Union of Provinces, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization Directorate-General of Local Authorities and local administration representatives from various cities of Turkey, who attended capacity building trainings as part of the project.

Fourth and the last of Capacity Building Training in the field of EU Acquis, which carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs within the scope of Town Twinning between Turkey and EU Project (TWIN) was completed on January 21, 2020.

‘Town Twinning Summit’ was held in Ankara on December 5, 2019 within the scope of the ‘Town Twinning between Turkey and the EU Project’ of which Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs is the beneficiary.   

Fifth Steering Meeting Committee was held on 1 November 2019, with the participation of representatives from Directorate for European Union Affairs (DEUA), Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU), Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) and Union of Provinces (UP) as well as Delegation of the European Union to Turkey (observer).

Final Report Training, which is the second and the final training for grant beneficiaries within the scope of the Town Twinning between Turkey and the EU Grant Scheme was held on 30-31 October 2019 in Ankara.

The second of the TWIN Study Visit Program, prepared with the aim to increase knowledge and experience in town twinning, took place on 23-27 September 2019 in Poland. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Union of Provinces, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Directorate-General for Local Authorities and representatives from various provinces of Turkey participated to the five-day long study visit.

The first day of the programme has started with the opening remarks of Gülşad Yalpu, Sector Manager in Delegation of the European Union to Turkey and A. Hakan Atik, Head of Department of Project Implementation of DEUA. Furthermore, sessions were organized under the title of “Town Twinning and City Diplomacy” and “Sustainable Town Twinning” moderated by Prof Dr. Birgül DEMİRTAŞ, Sinan ÖZDEN and Sadun EMREALP. In the sessions, conducted in three groups, discussions were held in the three working groups on various topics such as usage of smart city applications  and model implementations by representatives of local authorities in the field of town twinning, development of innovative approaches, how and through which means can city diplomacy be utilized for increasing urban welfare and sustainable local development, changes and improvements in the legal and institutional framework for the sustainability of town twinning. The results of the group studies were presented to all participants in the joint session.

Fourth Steering Meeting Committee was held on 24 July 2019, with the participation of representatives from Directorate for European Union Affairs (DEUA), Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU), Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT), Union of Provinces (UP) and Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, Directorate-General of Local Authorities (MeEU-DGLA), as well as Delegation of the European Union to Turkey (observer).