Syria Today | Danish Institute hosts Turkey conference

Danish Institute hosts Turkey conference

The Danish Institute for Culture and Science in Damascus hosted a conference on Turkey’s changing role in the Middle East from November 10 to 11.

The meeting brought together academics, journalists and policy makers from 13 European and Middle Eastern countries. The focus was on the re-emergence of Turkey as a key regional player in the Middle East and its relationship with Europe.

“Turkey has great implications for all of us and for the European Union,” conference organiser Jesper Berg said. “It is helping the Middle East to change.”

The Danish Institute said the meeting was intended to create a forum which would bring together journalists and academics from around the region.

“The aim was to present and debate aspects of the Arab and Middle Eastern world dealt with in a faint or unsatisfactory way in the media – Middle Eastern or Western – and ultimately to reformulate practices,” the conference’s synopsis said.

The Danish Institute, known as ‘Aqqad House’, was set up in Damascus in 1997. The first ‘Aqqad House Media and Journalist Conference’ was held in 2008.