International Relations Departmental Seminar

“Free movement; is it all about the having a one big Market in the EU?
Can borderless EU survive? Does Schengen need Turkish support?

Date: November 26, 2015
Time: 15.00
Place: santralistanbul Campus, E5-103

Speaker: Dr. Serçin Kutucu

The seminar is organized by İstanbul Bilgi University International Relations Department.

EU has faced significant influx of migrants from various conflict zones such as; Syria, Afganistan, Iraq, Libya and several African States. It is said that, Europe has not seen this number of immigrants since Second World War. Hungry and Austria temporarily replaced border controls. Greece and Italy asked for burden sharing from other member states. Paris wants the EU to suspend Schengen for three months. 

Meanwhile, EU officially declared that it is not possible to handle the influx without Turkey’s cooperation at the external borders. 

In order to have a better understanding of the current developments, in this seminar we are going to take a look at the emerge of “internal market” and its crucial element; free movement of persons.  Secondly , we are going to briefly explain the emerge of “Schengen Area” and relevant EU provisions and the idea it stands on. Then thirdly we shall discuss the intersection of  two  EU-Turkey Action Plans: (I) Action Plan on migration management and  (2) Action Plan on visa-free travel.  

About Serçin Kutucu:
Dr. Serçin Kutucu was graduated from University of Istanbul, Faculty of Law. She continued studies in the Public Law MA programme in the same university. She was granted scholarship and attended European Union’s MEDA (Euro-Mediterranean Partnership) Democracy Programme. She got PhD degree from Galatasaray University, with the thesis titled “Free Movement of Third Country Nationals in the European Union”. Her first book, Avrupa Birliği'nde Üçüncü Devlet Vatandaşlarının Serbest Dolaşımı, was published in 2014. Her professional experience includes positions such as Human Rights Officer, Attorney at Law and Journalist. Her main interest areas are EU Law, International Human Rights Law and Conflict Resolution/Mediation.