Turkish Coffee Briefings: A debate club on Europe and Turkey in Brussels

The Turkish Coffee Briefings aims to add a new formula Brussels’ rich think tank environment:

– just a short coffee break transformed to an opportunity of exchange of views;
– a relaxed moment of professional and friendly conversation in a small group around an actual topic of European and international agenda.

In our first meeting, the topic was Turkish Foreign Policy and Europe

We were honoured to have with us as guest speaker Mr Faruk Logoglu, Vice-President of the CHP ( Turkish social democratic / main opposition party) and former Turkish Ambassador to Washington.

It was very nice to listen this fruitful exchange of views with moderation of Georgy Gotev, Senior Editor of Euractiv. The participants were from European Parliament, European External Action Service, European Commission, business and civic society.

The Philosophy Behind The Turkish Coffee Briefings

According to the Turkish tradition, it is customary for the host to serve Turkish coffee to guests as soon as they arrive, as a gesture of hospitality. As parties start sipping their coffee from traditional demitasse cups, they also engage in a short pep talk to “melt the ice” which spurs on the main conversation. Therefore a cup of Turkish coffee is an important part of daily social and business life in Turkey as stated in the following proverb:

“A cup of coffee will not be forgotten for 40 years”…