"The closing ceremony of the ‘Technical Assistance Project for the Assessment of Türkiye's Potential for Transition to Circular Economy (DEEP Project)’ was held in Ankara on 11 February 2025. The project is financed by the European Union and the Republic of Türkiye, the contracting authority is the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, General Directorate of European Union and Foreign Relations, Department of European Union Investments end recipient is the The General Directorate of Environmental Management, Department of Circular Economy and Waste Management.
The opening speeches of the project were delivered by Ms. Fatma VARANK, Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Chang; Ambassador Mr. Mehmet Kemal BOZAY, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs; Ambassador Mr. Thomas Hans OSSOWSKI, Head of the EU Delegation to Türkiye; Mr. Fatih TURAN, Director General of Environmental Management, Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change.
In her opening speech, Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Ms. Fatma Varank said, ‘As the Ministry, we are working with all our strength to take the work we carry out within the framework of waste management and zero waste policies to the next level with circular economy principles. In 2022, we launched the ‘Technical Assistance Project for the Assessment of Türkiye's Potential for Transition to Circular Economy (DEEP Project)’. Within the scope of our project, we have prepared a National Circular Economy Strategy and Action Plan specific to our country with your valuable contributions. We believe that this model will play an important role in achieving our goal of becoming climate neutral by 2053 with the implementation of this Action Plan.’
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay said the following in his speech ‘Green and digital transformation are two areas that the EU has recently focused on. In this direction, within the scope of the European Green Deal targets, ensuring the green and digital transformation of our country's industrial sector is important in terms of maintaining our competitiveness in our foreign trade. In this context, I think that the activities carried out within the scope of the project we are closing today have made a significant contribution to the work on the green transformation of our industry.’
The Head of the EU Delegation to Türkiye, Ambassador Thomas Hans Ossowski emphasised that climate change is a huge problem at the global level. ‘We need to take good care of this world and be accountable to future generations. Climate change is one of the big problems of our time and it is time to act on it. With the circular economy, we are talking about a transformation process in our lives. This transformation covers both our daily lives and industrial processes.’
In his speech, Mr. Fatih Turan, Director General of Environmental Management, Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change said, ‘Within the scope of the project, impact analyses were conducted in the packaging, battery and vehicles, electricity-electronics, food and biomass, construction and buildings, plastics and textile sectors with high circularity potential. In line with these analyses, we identified 6 strategic goals, 22 objectives and a total of 52 actions. While 27 of these actions are responsible for developing legislation, 25 of them include implementation measures covering infrastructure, financing and institutional structure. In addition, by preparing a country-specific National Circular Economy Strategy and Action Plan, we have fulfilled the task of preparing this Action Plan given to our Ministry in high-scale plans such as Türkiye's Green Deal Action Plan and 12th Development Plan.’
The Closing Event ended with the presentations of ‘DEEP Project Overview and Achievements’ by Mr. Mihail Dimovski, Team Leader of DEEP Project and ‘National Circular Economy Strategy and Action Plan / National Single Use Plastics and Marine Litter Roadmap’ by Ms. Sabriye Ayhan, Head of Circular Economy and Waste Management Department.
We would like to thank all stakeholders who contributed throughout the project.
