20-Years of Visegrad Four Cooperation: Implications for EU Enlargemen

A round-table meeting commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Visegrad Group (also known as "Visegrad Four" or "V4"), i.e. Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, was organized by GPoT Center in collaboration with the Consul Generals of the V4 countries in Istanbul under the chairmanship of the Consul General of Slovakia on March 28th, 2011.

"20 years ago nobody imagined that any celebration of V3/V4 would take place, much less that it would take place in Istanbul," Tomáš Strážay of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association said speaking on the panel entitled "Common lessons to be drawn from the V-4 countries’ EU experience".

Later on, columnist at the daily Taraf and PhD candidate at the Central European University in Budapest, Sezin Öney noted: "Despite zero problems with neighbors' policy, we [Turkey] are still far away from true cooperation with all neighbors and have something to learn from the V4."

The meeting took place on the premises of Istanbul Kültür University with the participation of students, media, experts from V4 countries and Turkey, Consul Generals of the V4 countries in Istanbul and also the Consul Generals of Belgium and Romania.