Within the framework of the “Greek-Turkish Young Leaders Initiative”, the CIES organized the 2nd Greek-Turkish Young Leaders Symposium (GTYLS) on Security. The Greek-Turkish Young Leaders Symposium (GTYLS) on Security organized with the participation of 15 Turkish and 15 Greek International Relations specialists (MA Students, PhD Candidates, young PhD scholars and professionals), aged 22-35 years old, on 14 – 18 December 2016 in Istanbul in partnership with the Thessaloniki-based Navarino Network, Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul, and the co-sponsorship of NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
The CIES aims to ensure that tomorrow’s political, business, social and academic elites construct a framework which makes dialogue a key and requisite component of the relationship and build trust between two countries. The focus of the 2nd GTYLS focused on the new security environment and how Greece and Turkey could cooperate to address the challenges it presents.
The opening session of the Symposium on Wednesday, 14 December was held as an open event in contrast to the rest of the deliberations which were closed to the general public. At the time, Dimitrios Triantaphyllou presented the results of a research study he led in the form of a survey on the Perceptions of Turkish Elites on Turkey’s place in the world, Greece’s foreign policy, and Greek-Turkish relations.
The aforementioned presentation was followed by a panel discussion on “The New Security Challenges” facing the regional and global context today with the participation of two outstanding International Relations scholars and experts from Turkey and Greece – Professor Mustafa Aydin, the Rector of Kadir Has University and Associate Professor Kostas Ifantis from Kadir Has University and Panteion University of Athens.
Other sessions included a debate on Greek-Turkish relations held in partnership with Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul with Turkish and Greek members of the Greek-Turkish Forum. Also, the youth dimension was discussed with the input of alumni from the 2015 Symposium as well as the perspective of journalists with the contribution of seasoned journalists. The Symposium also included a “Peer to Peer Workshop” facilitated by an expert trainer where participants were taught to work together to produce collaborative project proposals.
The CIES partners for this project are the Navarino Network, Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul. and NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
Video of “the New Security Challenges” panel
Press Coverage of the Event
2nd Greek – Turkish Young Leaders Symposium on Security
Pusula Akademi
14 December 2016
“Türk ve Yunan gençleri iki ülke arasındaki sorunlara çözüm arıyor” (Turkish and Greek Youngs are looking for a solution for the problems between two countries) [Turkish]
Hürriyet
15 December 2016
Greek and Turkish Students Discussed the Future of the Mediterranean
Columbia Global Center
16 December 2016
Photos
This event is sponsored by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division