Göğüş and the Virtues of EurActiv.com

From TDN:

A independent Web site dedicated to European Union affairs has filled a gap in communication between Turkey and the EU, according to the founder of the site's Turkish edition.

EurActiv.com is a Web portal that produces content in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and it recently added Turkey to its network. Euractiv.com.tr celebrated its first anniversary Tuesday.

“We are part of the endeavor to show Turkey's presence on EU platforms,” publisher and founder, Zeynep Göğüş, said Tuesday. “We are working with a very dynamic and young team. We cover everything that goes on in the European Union with all its aspects.”

Arguing that one of the most important problems in the Turkish-EU relationship is in communication,Gögğüş said the Web portal could fulfill an important gap in that area. “ We started from zero but reached 50,000 readers,” said Göğüş, adding that their news coverage was shared by Euractiv's 9 other partners.

Christopher Leclerq, the founder of Euractiv, said he was encouraged by the development of Euractiv.com.tr. Himself a former EU official, Leclerrq said the big need to involve civil society in EU affairs was the main motivation behind establishing the Web portal. In the mini-panel that took place on euractiv.com.tr's first year anniversary, Leclerq elaborated on the consequences of the global economic crisis on Turkish-EU relations, saying that protectionist policies of European countries and unemployment problems will increase the fears against Turkish membership. He said Turkey could take a place in the new Bretton Woods system that will take shape in the near future.

EurActiv.com is a great resource, especially when it comes to finding EU reports on Turkey.