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 BOSPHORUS CONFERENCE DEBATES WHETHER EU AND TURKEY ARE DRIFTING APART
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 The fourth Bosphorus Conference, held ironically in the European side of Istanbul, overlooking Asia through the stream of water giving the event its brand name, coincided with, perhaps, the most pessimistic time in the history of the EU-Turkey relations, summarised best by its title, ‘The EU and Turkey: Drifting Apart?’
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| YOUTH NGOs AWARDED FOR ‘BEST PRACTICES’
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 The ‘best practices’ in youth work demonstrated by 20 NGOs were recognised with the Best Practices in Youth Work Award Ceremony this month, hosted jointly by the British Council and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
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| Poetic Justice
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 The new police-based Peacekeeping English Project in Turkey is unique in its international nature and scope. Turkish forces are training forces from 65 nations including many key Middle Eastern and Central Asian republics in counter terrorism, counter narcotics and human trafficking policing. Vadi Cicekli, is not just President of the Turkish Police Academy, he is also a published poet. His post Ottoman and contemporary poetry is very popular in Turkey. Ever since my first meeting with him I have found him very enthusiastic about cooperating with the British Council Peacekeeping English Project.
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| CAFÉ SCIENTIFIQUE DISCUSSES URBAN TRANSPORT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
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 Around 50 participants in Ankara, London and Skopje discussed Urban Transport and Climate Change last month through a video conference as part of our Café Scientifique discussions. The conference was facilitated by Yunus Arikan from Regional Environmental Center Turkey. Terence Bendixson, the President of the Pedestrian Association and Secretary of the Independent Transport Commission, was the guest speaker in the meeting which included representatives from the government, business community, universities and NGOs.
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| A DEBATE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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 A focus group discussion on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) took place recently with the participation of Lord Neil Kinnock, the Chair of the British Council and former Vice President of the European Commission, along with seven representatives from NGOs, companies and academia. The discussion aimed to bring the youth perspective into various topics under CSR.
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| NEW DEVELOPMENT COURSES FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH
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 Check our list of teacher development courses available this year. Our rich portfolio of development courses for teachers are run in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, and an online version for those outside these cities is also available on our web pages.
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| THE SELECTOR WINNERS GO TO LONDON
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 The lucky winners of the UK’s award-winning radio show The Selector’s video competition, “Have Your Say,” was announced this month. The most unique video recording, selected by The Selector jury in terms of creativity, content and presentation, was the video recorded by a group of five students from Konya Selçuk University, number 34 in our video gallery.
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| THE STORYTELLER BACK IN TURKEY AGAIN
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 Alec Williams, a professional storyteller from the UK, was back in Turkey recently to speak at the annual English Language Education Association’s (INGED) English Language Teaching conference. As usual we were treated to a mix of both oral and book based stories interspersed with insightful comments and observations concerning the use of stories in the classroom.
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| IZMIR BRITISH COUNCIL OFFICE IN THE 40s
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 Does anyone remember the British Council office in Izmir in the 1940s? A photograph, part of a valuable archive of glass plate negatives and various film types and recently restored in Izmir, shows our office six decades ago.
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| WEDNESDAY WORKSHOPS BEGIN IN IZMIR
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 The Wednesday Workshops begins once again in Izmir. The Workshops, held every fortnight in the centre of the city, have become an informal meeting place for teachers of English. This term’s topics cover a range of areas, and will include English in Literature, English in Tourism, How to improve students’ speaking skills, and How to use films in the classroom.
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British Council had the chance to talk with Lord Neil Kinnock, the Chair of the British Council and former Vice President of the European Commission, on how Turkey’s doing in its quest in entering the European Union. Quoting George Orwell, Lord Kinnock stressed that, ‘There is no question of stopping short,’ and ‘There’s only advance or retreat. Advance must be certain.’
