Mission

The Turkey Initiative of the Joint Center was launched in 2006. The main aim of the Initiative is to function as a nexus for expertise, knowledge and information on Turkish politics, society, and foreign relations.

Geopolitical developments in the Middle East and the Black Sea region, Turkey's bid for EU membership, and the evolution of Turkey's experiment in democratic and politics in a Muslim society all make Turkey a crucial country to both Europe and the United States, as well as to the region in which it is located. However, Turkey is generally treated peripherally within academic as well as bureacratic institutions - on the edged of either Europe or Asia - but seldom is it taken as a focal point.

The purpose of the Turkey Initiative is therefore to develop – in cooperation with institutions of research and learning in Sweden and Turkey but also Europe and North America – a nexus on expertise on Turkey that will cater not only to the academic community but to society at large, including government institutions and parliament, the business community, NGOs, media, and the wider public. In so doing, the Turkey Initiative does not aspire to monopolize expertise on Turkey. Quite to the contrary, it aspires to function as a ‘switchboard of resources’, bringing together and linking existing resources to itself and to one another through cooperation in research, teaching and outreach activities.

Such cooperation implies first and foremost close cooperation with the expertise on Turkic languages and culture present at Uppsala University’s Department of Linguistics and Philology; secondly, this implies coordination and cooperation with the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul and the Section for Swedish-Turkish Cooperation at the Consulate General in Istanbul; thirdly, this means interaction and cooperation with other academic institutions, think tanks, government and business in Sweden and Turkey as well as other countries; and last but not least, this implies a focus on applied research and teaching that weds academic integrity and rigor with relevance to to the needs of actors in society such as governments and business.

Five Year Plan

For detailed information on the Turkey Initiative long term ambitions please see our Five Year Plan online in pdf-format