Rural Development Policies: A Chance for Turkey during the EU Accession Process?

In general Turkey’s accession process to the European Union accelerated after October 3, 2005, but slowed down once again in the past year. As far as agricultural policy in Turkey is concerned, no serious reform efforts can be observed, even though Turkey’s agricultural policy and especially rural development are matters of great concern. At two meetings in Brussels and Istanbul, the EU Regional office and the Turkey office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation want to present the Turkish discussion on rural development and at the same time open a debate on Turkey’s and the European Union’s rural development policies. The following issues will be at the centre of the debate:
- Rural development policies in Turkey until today, their
  positive and negative effects, the differences with the
  rural development policies of the European Union,
- Evaluation of the rural potential in Turkey,
- The European Union’s rural development policies and
   the necessary reforms of Turkey’s rural structures,
- Turkey’s capacity to implement these policies in
  general and especially with a view to regional
  imbalances.