Roundtable with Faruk Kaymakcı “Turkey-EU Relations in the Face of Russian Agression towards Ukraine”
Date of publication: April 7, 2022
Prague Centre for Middle East Relations (PCMR) and Prague Centre for Translatlantic Relations (PCTR) of CEVRO Institute organized a roundtable discussion entitled “Turkey-EU Relations in the Face of Russian Aggression towards Ukraine” with Ambassador Faruk Kaymakci, Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey and Director for EU Affairs. The event took place on April 5 at CEVRO Institute (Jungmannova 28/17, Prague).
The purpose of this closed roundtable was to discuss the potential developments in EU-Turkey relations in the face of Russian attacks in Ukraine. The participants have also touched upon other issues such as alternative energy sources, Turkey’s role as a mediator in the war in Ukraine, and the Cyprus dispute.
The event was held under the Chatham House Rules.
The roundtable was moderated by Tomáš Kaválek, Director of PCMR.
Amb. Faruk Kaymakci serves as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs & Director for EU Affairs since August 2018. Previously, he worked at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara as the Directorate General (DG) for the Balkan States (1994-95), DG for International Economic Organizations (1995-96), DG Policy Planning (2002-03), and DG European Union (2008). Abroad, he served at the Turkish Embassy in Tripoli (1997-99), at the NATO Senior Civilian Representative’s Office in Kabul (2004-05), and three times at the Turkish Permanent Delegation to the EU in Brussels (1999-02, 2005-08 and 2017-18). He was the Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Turkey’s EU Minister and Chief Negotiator and Director for EU Communication at the EU Ministry (2009-11). He served as the Consul General of Turkey in Basra from 2011 to 2013. In October 2013 he was appointed as the Ambassador of Turkey to Iraq where he remained in office until January 2017. He was the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the European Union, from February 2017 to August 2018. Deputy MOFA Kaymakcı is a holder of the NATO Medal for his service in Afghanistan and was selected as one of the three Alumnus of the Year 2007 of the College of Europe.