Şengül Ertürk

I was working at Anadolu Kültür (Istanbul) as a Finance Coordinator when the seeds of the idea of Tandem Turkey were first planted by the European Cultural Foundation, MitOst and Anadolu Kültür with the support of Stiftung Mercator in 2011.

Over the following nine years, I witnessed the seeds grew into a Programme that created a space where culture managers from Turkey and EU countries came together, opened up themselves to each other by exchanging ideas, information, practices and experiences; they transformed themselves, their organisations and communities, created long-term collaborations and friendships.

Now I am in Berlin, with MitOst. Tandem Turkey has come to an end after five rounds, but Tandem continues creating spaces by focusing on different regions, supporting cultures to cross borders, contributing to create environments for sincere compromise and conciliation. It is a pleasure to still witness and, albeit small, be a part of it.