Participation of the Turkic States in direct EU programmes
The question posed in the title can typically be answered precisely by the volume and characteristics of foreign trade with each other, the volume of FDI, tourism data, the volume of jointly financed projects and other similar economic indicators that can be measured precisely and vary from year to year. EU exports to Turkey (2024): € 112 billion, imports € 98.4 billion, representing roughly 41%-32% of total Turkish external trade, making the EU Turkey’s most important trading partner. On the reverse: Turkey is now the EU’s seventh most important trading partner, accounting for around 3.6-4% of the EU’s total external trade. Around 12% of trips abroad by EU citizens were to Turkey, which made Turkey the third most popular destination outside the EU.
These few figures confirm our general view that the answer to the question in the title is “very important” for these two neighbouring regions. This gives us further reason to look at the situation regarding Turkey and the Turkic States’ participation in EU programmes.
According to DG BUDGET data for the three years 2021-2023, Turkey has received €2.687 billion in direct EU funding, which represents 97.44% of the total funding flowing to the Organisation of Turkic States (for comparison, Hungary received €1 billion in direct EU funding over the same period). The other members, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, as well as Turkmenistan, which has been an observer since 2021, have only a minor participation in these projects.
| Beneficiary country | Contracted support(€ million) | % |
| Turkey | 2 687.32 | 97.44% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 33.46 | 1.21% |
| Kazakhstan | 28.02 | 1.02% |
| Uzbekistan | 5.22 | 0.19% |
| Azerbaijan | 3.51 | 0.13% |
| Turkmenistan | 0.52 | 0.02% |
| TOTAL | 2 758.05 | 100.00% |
Source: DG BUDGET, Financial Transparency System, 2021-2023
If we look further at the programmes from which this €2.6 billion comes, we can see that out of 40, the following 13 EU programmes account for this amount, with the pre-accession fund IPA, the NDICI supporting cross-border projects, Erasmus+ for educational exchanges and Horizon Europe for research and development being the main ones. These four programmes account for more than 96% of the total €2,603 million of the €2,687 million support to Turkey.
| Name of EU direct programme | Amount contracted(€ million) | |
| 1 | 6.0.21 – Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) | 1095.83 |
| 2 | 6.0.111 – Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI – Global Europe) | 958.14 |
| 3 | 2.2.32 – Erasmus+ | 355.05 |
| 4 | 1.0.11 – Horizon Europe | 194.62 |
| 5 | 2.2.24 – Union Civil Protection Mechanism (RescEU) | 52.28 |
| 6 | 2.2.33 – European Solidarity Corps (ESC) | 18.23 |
| 7 | 1.0.31 – Single Market Programme (incl – SMEs) | 7.12 |
| 8 | 2.2.13 – Support to the Turkish Cypriot Community | 4.39 |
| 9 | 3.2.21 – Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) | 0.61 |
| 10 | 2.2.2SPEC – Actions financed under the prerogatives of the Commission and specific competences conferred to the Commission | 0.47 |
| 11 | 2.2.3SPEC – Actions financed under the prerogatives of the Commission and specific competences conferred to the Commission | 0.20 |
| 12 | 3.2.13 – European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) | 0.20 |
| 13 | 6.0.1SPEC – Actions financed under the prerogatives of the Commission and specific competences conferred to the Commission | 0.02 |
| 14 | 1.0.221 – Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) – Transport | 0.00 |
| 15 | 11th European Development Fund (EDF) | 0.00 |
| 16 | 10th European Development Fund (EDF) | 0.00 |
| 17 | 6.0.14 – Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) (including Greenland) | 0.00 |
| TOTAL | 2687.16 |
Source: DG BUDGET, Financial Transparency System, 2021-2023
Looking further at the specific projects for which the EU is providing funding, seven of the first 10 projects are for a migration-related project for a total of €1.5 billion.
| Name of beneficiary (in Turkish and English) | Contracted support (€) | Programme | Title of project | |
| 1 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 400 000 000 | 6.0.111 – NDICI – Global Europe | SOCIAL SAFETY NET TO REFUGEES IN TÜRKIYE (SSN) |
| 2 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 300 000 000 | 6.0.111 – NDICI – Global Europe | PROMOTING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR KIDS IN THE TURKISH EDUCATION SYSTEM+ (PIKTES+) |
| 3 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 210 000 000 | 6.0.21 – IPA III | SUPPORTING MIGRANT HEALTH SERVICES IN TÜRKIYE – SIHHAT III |
| 4 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 210 000 000 | 6.0.111 – NDICI – Global Europe | CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER FOR EDUCATION IV (CCTE) |
| 5 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 150 000 000 | 6.0.21 – IPA III | SOCIAL SAFETY NET TO REFUGEES IN TÜRKIYE (SSN) |
| 6 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 141 000 000 | 6.0.21 – IPA III | SOCIAL SAFETY NET TO REFUGEES IN TÜRKIYE (SSN) |
| 7 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIQUE TURQUE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY | 107 880 000 | 6.0.21 – IPA III | ANNUAL ACTION PROGRAMME FOR TURKEY FOR THE YEAR 2020 – OBJECTIVE 1 |
| 8 | TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI* REPUBLIC OF TURKIYE | 90 000 000 | 6.0.21 – IPA III | SOCIAL SAFETY NET TO REFUGEES IN TÜRKIYE (SSN) |
| 9 | AVRUPA BIRLIGI EGITIM VE GENCLIK PROGRAMLARI MERKEZI BASKANLIGI* THE CENTRE FOR THE EU EDUCATION AND YOUTH PROGRAMME ABEGPM | 88 888 035 | 2.2.32 – Erasmus+ | 2023 – CONTRIBUTION AGREEMENT OF THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME – NATIONAL AGENCY IN TURKEY |
| 10 | AVRUPA BIRLIGI EGITIM VE GENCLIK PROGRAMLARI MERKEZI BASKANLIGI* THE CENTRE FOR THE EU EDUCATION AND YOUTH PROGRAMME ABEGPM | 83 952 889 | 2.2.32 – Erasmus+ | 2022 – CONTRIBUTION AGREEMENT OF THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME – NATIONAL AGENCY IN TURKEY |
Source: DG BUDGET, Financial Transparency System, 2021-2023
Overall, if we look at EU-Turkey and EU-Turkic States relations through the direct EU programmes, migration is currently the most important issue on which the EU allocates by far the most resources. This is followed by Erasmus+ (education exchange programmes) and Horizon Europe (research and development), but we are confident that in the future the Single Market Programme or the LIFE programme will also grow in relation to this region.
Source: ChatGPT, Flags of the Organisation of EU and Turkic States
