SAKIP SABANCI

Sabancı University and the Brookings Institution co-organized the Seventh Annual Sakıp Sabancı Lecture, which featured a keynote speech by Javier Solana, the former EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. In his address, Solana offered perspectives on security, stability and democracy in a changing world, and discuss how these changes are affecting Turkey’s relations with the United States and Europe and its emerging role as a global player. He emphasized that though Turkey and the EU should work together beyond negotiations at the table, the relationship should thrive at a deeper level.
Solana began his distinguished public service career in 1977 when he was first elected to the Spanish Parliament. He has served in the Spanish Cabinet as minister of culture, minister of education and science, and lastly as minister of foreign affairs. In 1995, Solana took office as secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). From 1999 to 2009, he was secretary general of the Council of the European Union and its first high representative for the common foreign and security policy. He is currently a distinguished senior fellow at Brookings.
Brookings President Strobe Talbott and Güler Sabancı, Chair of Board of Trustees of Sabancı University, provided introductory remarks. Following Solana’s address, Kemal Derviş, vice president and director of Global Economy and Development at Brookings, offered comments. Sabancı University students and a wider overseas audience participated in the event via videoconference, moderated in Washington by CUSE Director and Senior Fellow Fiona Hill and in Istanbul by Professor Ayşe Kadıoğlu.
The Sakıp Sabancı Lecture is given annually by a leading international statesman and explores Turkey’s increasingly important role in the world. The event honors the memory of Sakip Sabanci, one of Turkey’s foremost business leaders, a visionary supporter of democratic and economic reforms, and a leading advocate of Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union.
Member of the International Board of Overseers at Sabancı University, Istanbul Policy Center Senior Adviser and Vice President and Director of Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution Kemal Derviş commented on Solana’s remarks, “It’s important to remember that the EU accession project is not just an end in itself, but a big step to a better global order for tomorrow.” Sabancı University’s Professor Ayşe Kadıoğlu moderated a lively discussion among the audience at Sabancı University which connected to the lecture via teleconference in Istanbul. Headed by Kadıoğlu, the thought-provoking questions by Sabancı University students impressed the audience in both Washington and Istanbul.