Turkey has performed excellently in all fields it has been active in from international relations to economy and from art to sociology; by making effective decisions and taking the right steps, it has been a model for other countries when it comes to development experience. It believes that peace, comfort and welfare are only possible with a well-rounded development approach and has used its political, social and technical infrastructure to coordinate many regional and global projects. Furthermore, it has shared its knowledge and experience for a habitable world. With its policies in the last ten years, Turkey has brought world countries together on a common ground for a better future, and with its efforts ushered in a new era in the history of development.

In parallel with the developing social, political and economic relations, in order to ensure and spread cooperation and development-based change, the institutions in our country have renewed themselves day by day at a high pace; and they did not miss out on the ongoing changes and transformations. On an international level, the activities of institutions that represent Turkey have garnered attention on a global level. 

Since its establishment in 1992, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) has been Turkey’s face in the global scene, and has carried out international operations and earned the respect of the world’s public opinion. The growth achieved by our country especially after 2002 also had an impact on TİKA and our activities that were being carried out through offices in 12 countries in 2002 expanded over the years; and today TİKA represents our country through technical assistance activities in 58 countries with 60 Program Coordination Offices. Our agency has implemented projects in over 150 countries, in an extensive geography spanning from Mongolia to Kosovo, from Senegal to Afghanistan, from Ukraine to Madagascar, and our cooperation and support activities have served millions of people.

In terms of the foreign aid provided by our country, our agency has increased its activities by 300% compared to the year 2002. Similarly, foreign aid budget followed a continuously increasing trend. The amount of foreign aid provided was USD 85 Million in 2002 and as of 2016 it reached USD 6.48 Billion.

TİKA works with an approach that involves sharing Turkey’s development experience with other countries and relies on an understanding of “cooperation partnership”. At the root of this understanding, there is compatible, sustainable and multilateral cooperation, and the projects have a one hundred percent success rate thanks to actors that take on suitable roles. 

The policies and practices of our country in the field of development, also allow beneficiary countries to execute their strategic national plans.

Our agency carries out its activities in tandem and relies on an interactive perspective and sense of work that fuel one another. The first step of this understanding is a cooperation partnership that is based on development aid. In the countries, which currently receive or are planned to receive technical assistance, the priorities and needs are identified, and long-term development objectives and strategies are prepared. Instead of temporary solutions, the focus is on patience and the sustainability of consistent work. In line with the long-term objectives, analyses are carried out to develop and improve the technical infrastructure, and to activate the developed human resource, with the end goal of achieving a sustainable development strategy.  The primary objective of this approach is to pass on Turkey’s development experience in a systematic and healthy way while also keeping the local conditions in mind.

The other component of the work involves projects, which are determined in line with the development objectives, which support the long-term strategies and also include immediate and short-term solution offers.  The projects prioritize meeting the basic needs. Keeping the special conditions applicable to the subject country in mind, the damages caused by natural disasters or economic crises are identified, a working plan to meet the high-priority needs is prepared and the implementation phase starts. 

Considering TİKA’s work merely as technical assistance would be deceiving. TİKA adopts a “human-centric” approach in the countries where the projects are implemented, and it has attained the respect it deserves in the beneficiary countries and among the world’s development institutions through its goal of “a more habitable world”. TİKA acts as serious as a governmental institution, prepares projects like a business plans its investments, and works like an NGO volunteer, incorporating interdisciplinary success principles.

In the upcoming periods, TİKA will keep on working all around the world without discriminating language, religion or race; and with the projects it is going to implement, it will embrace countries from various levels of development with the warm heart and helpfulness of the Turkish people in a sincere and uninterrupted manner. In a world where peace, comfort and welfare depend on development, and development depends on cooperation, TİKA will continue its mission of being a platform that brings different countries and geographies together on common grounds. 

I wholeheartedly wish for the works of TİKA, which embodies Turkey’s development aid approach, to provide benefits to millions of people across continents and geographies, to inspire “human-centric” efforts in the future as it does today.