TEPAV organized a Turkey trip for Amerikan journalist and experts

With the trip organized by Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) a delegation consisting of American Journalists and blog writers visited Turkey between 17-24 March 2010. The delegation headed by Morton Abramowitz, Former US Ambassador to Turkey consisted of Mr. James Lamond, Policy Analyst at National Security Network; Mr. Michael Crowley, Senior Editor at The New Republic; Mr. Emil Sanamyan, Editor of the Armenian Reporter; Ms. Claudia Rosett, Column writer in Forbes.com and Former Member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal; Mr. David Kenner, Assistant Editor at Foreign Policy Magazine; Mr. Michael Wahid Hanna, Fellow and Program Officer at The Century Foundation; Mr. Khatchig Mouradian, Editor of the Armenian Weekly; and Mr. Michael Cohen, Former Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation.

In the context of the program, in Ankara, the delegation met with H.E. Abdullah Gül, the President of Republic of Turkey; H.E. Ahmet Davutoglu, Foreign Minister of Republic Turkey; Ambassador Feridun H. Sinirlioglu Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Selim Yenel Deputy Undersecretary Ambassador; and James Jeffrey, the US Ambassador to Turkey. Journalists also met with some political party leaders and representatives of various think-tanks centered in Ankara.

On 18 March 2010, TEPAV organized a working lunch for the delegation. At the lunch, while TEPAV Director Güven Sak made evaluations on Turkey's economy and Radikal Newspaper Ankara Representative Murat Yetkin on Turkey's domestic policy. In the evening, the delegation participated to the dinner organized by the President of The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turley, Mr. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu.

In the last two days of the TEPAV program, meetings were held in Istanbul. After the roundtable meeting carried out with the participation of TÜSİAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association) members, the delegation visited Greek-Ortodoks Patriarchate in Istanbul to met with Press Secretary Saint Dositheos. Following them, the delegation came together with Turkish businessmen and academics with a meeting organized by Foreign Economic Relations Board. Afterwards, the delegation joined the dinner organized by Turkish-American Business Council where American delegation convened with press members, businessmen and academics to discuss a wide range of issues involving Turkey's investment climate, foreign direct investments, image of Turkey and recent Turkish-American relations.

Articles written by some members of delegations after the Turkey program can be retrieved from the links below:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/01/

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/30/

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/25/

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/25/

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2010-03-24

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/20/

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/19/

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/17/

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/03/19/

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2010-03-17

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2010-03-19

http://www.nationalinterest.org

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-204416

http://www.todayszaman.com/204521

http://www.todayszaman.com/204647

http://www.armtown.com/news/en/htq/20100524/201005241