Thanks to its geographical position on the Bosporus, Turkey is both a bridge and an important link to the Middle East and Asia. Germany and Turkey have a special relationship owing not least to the approximately three million Turkish citizens and people of Turkish descent living in Germany. Cooperation in the areas of culture, education and research is extremely varied.

Funding programmes

On the German side, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and numerous foundations are involved in supporting cooperation between German and Turkish researchers. The DAAD operates two Information Centres, one in Ankara and one in Istanbul. In addition to bilateral cooperation, Germany and Turkey are also jointly involved in EU projects and transnational funding programmes. For example, the two countries work together to implement projects in the PRIMA initiative (Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area). Thematic focuses are food security, water and agricultural systems.  Turkey is an associated country in Horizon 2020 and its successor Horizon Europe. This means that Turkish organizations are just as eligible to submit applications and receive funding under Horizon Europe as participants from EU member states.

Joint learning and research

The BMBF, together with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), provides funding for German-Turkish research projects along the lines of the German Federal Government’s Strategy for the Internationalization of Education, Science and Research.

Ongoing projects for the development and intensification of bilateral scientific cooperation between German and Turkish institutions are being promoted through support for scientific exchange and for the preparation of joint project proposals up to the end of 2024 in line with the regulations governing the funding of scientific and technological cooperation with Turkey between the BMBF and TÜBİTAK.

The IntenC Programme (Intensified Cooperation) served to provide funding for bilateral research projects which led to a lasting improvement in R&D relations between the partners and in particular to the promotion of young scientists.

The intensification of cooperation between German and Turkish research and business stakeholders was supported under the joint “2+2” project funding programme of the BMBF and TÜBITAK. The selected R&D projects involved at least one German and one Turkish research institution or university as well as one German and one Turkish commercial company.

The Turkish-German University (TDU)

A joint declaration on the deepening of research and innovation cooperation was signed at the opening event of the 2014 German-Turkish Year of Research, Education and Innovation. The Turkish-German University (TDU) in Istanbul officially opened in the same year.

The first 120 students enrolled in three bachelor and three master degree programmes in the winter semester 2013/14. The university has five faculties: Law; the Natural Sciences; the Economic, Cultural and Social Sciences; and Engineering. Around 4000 students are currently enrolled at the TDU, of which almost 1500 are taking a one-year language course at the university’s foreign languages centre. The university now offers a total of 36 bachelor, master and doctoral degree programmes. In January 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and former Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel opened a new campus in Istanbul.