A delegation of history teachers,  EU basic course participants made a visit to Ankara, capital city of Turkey,between Febraury 17 and Febraury 18, 2010. The delegation was leaded by Nazim Tural, moderator of the EU Basic Course Programme.

The delegation visited some institutions dealing with the EU issues and the National Assembly.  Over the course of the trip, the delegation had the opportunity to meet with high level officials of institutions and the high profile deputies in charge of foreign affairs and human rights policies.

Beside the visit to the EU Turkey Delegation Office and EU Secretariat General and the Foreign Relation Instıtute, delegation held a meeting with Mr. Suat Kiniklioglu, the Vice Chairman of  Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament, and  Mr. Zafer Uskul, the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee.

Political Officer, Ms. Sema Kilicer informed about the organizational structure and the working system of the Delegation and informed about the way of interaction between the EU Delegation and the Turkish Government officials. Mr. Kiniklioglu informed the visiting delegation of the working system of his committee and reiterated the commitment of Turkey to access the EU  and briefed the group on recent developments in EU policies by adding his personal observations based on his recent trip to European countries’ capitals.

Mr. Uskul  briefly explained the committee works and made an introduction on human rights problems faced in Turkey and the efforts of the legislative branch towards confronting the problems.

The EU Basic Course programme has been designed in cooperation with the Istanbul Governorship in order to introduce the European Political System in context of liberal values promoted by the Foundation.  In order to strengthen their knowledge of political systems, particular attention has been given to basic concepts and liberal values that shape the political structure of the European Union.