On June 14, 2017, the annual study and research trip of INSITER with the group of MA students of “European and International Affairs” of the Turkish-German University Istanbul was concluded. This year the students visited, Brussels (May 31- June 8) and Berlin (June 9-14). The journey served the purpose to experience real life politics first-hand and to take teaching inside the Turkey-EU relations by enabling the students to step into the everyday work of European, Turkish and International Organizations. By getting into direct contact with decisions makers of leading political, economic and administrative institutions students were able to study the complex interaction between the EU, national and subnational level of decision-making in the ‘multi-level’ political system of the European Union and to get a hands-on perspective on how Turkey-EU relations are shaped in practice.

The program was partly carried out in cooperation with other international partner institutions such as the University of Cologne, Science Po and the Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE). Alongside the joint visits to institutions the internationally composed group of students could engage in a simulation exercise that dealt with the post 2020 EU budget negotiations and democratic norm violations in Europe. The visit was also supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.