sPAT September 2016 meeting agenda: Developments in Syria and Turkey

sPAT is gathering on the first weekend of September with the general agenda, “Developments in Syria and Turkey.”

sPAT continues its meetings following the summer break. 

The participants, gathering in the July meetings with the general agenda, “The Coup Attempt on July 15,” come together once again with a hot agenda after the end of August.

The cold war in Syria, changing balances in the Middle East, foreign policies of Turkey and their reflections inside Turkey… These are all topics handled for a long time either within the general agenda of sPAT, or in the subcontexts during the debates. The sides in the region, oppositional groups, terrorist organizations, the regime and the (sometimes open, sometimes closed) attitudes of the U.S., Russia, Iran, the EU and Turkey… Turkey had lost its position to speak on the matters in the region after the Russian aircraft being taken down. However, with the positive relations conducted recently with Russia after the coup attempt has provided Turkey its position once again. On August 24, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has started a “Euphrates Shield Operation” in Jarabulus, together with the Free Syrian Army (ÖSO) militants.

Following the operation, debates have started both inside Turkey and in the international media. Statements made from the U.S., the EU and Russia, as well as statements of the sides in the region continue to stay hot in the agenda. Some questions emerging from this agenda are, “Is ISIS the only target?”, “Will YPG withdraw to the west bank of Euphrates, if not, what happens?” “Will the Turkish Armed Forces fight with YPG, if yes, what happens?” “How will Turkey be affected by this operation in terms of security, politics and economics?”

sPAT is gathering on the first weekend of September with the general agenda, “developments in Syria and Turkey.”

The time and location of the meetings are as indicated below:

Information on the meetings:

In case there is more than one person representing the same organization, only one of those representatives can take the floor at once. The time periods indicated below may be increased or decreased as long as all participants agree on the change and the flow of the meeting is not disrupted.

In our meetings, special guests speak about the general agenda for 10 minutes following the introduction video presented at the beginning of each meeting. After the special guests, the turn of speech is given first to Non-Governmental Organizations for 5 minutes each, then to Political representatives for 5 minutes each. Once the first round is completed, either the second round, or a question-answer session begins; according to the number of attendance and to the common preferences of the participants. In the Q/A session, political party representatives have 2 minutes to answer the questions asked by the civil society in 15 seconds. In this session, the special guests may be asked questions as well. The same format is applied for the local agenda as well, and the meeting concludes.