Artists and culture professionals are considered as “service suppliers” according to World Trade Organization (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Accordingly, all measures affecting trade in services are covered by GATS, which includes visa measures. If and where Members of the WTO undertook commitments regarding artist and culture professionals (would generally be referred under the category of independent professionals), the visa exemptions and/or market access conditions are set in Members specific commitment lists. If and where Members of the WTO undertook commitments regarding artists and culture professionals, all measures affecting trade in services, including visa measures, shall be administered reasonably, objectively, and impartial. Apart from WTO GATS Agreement, Turkey has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with its trading partners where greater market opening and facilitative disciplines on visa and work permit applications for all services suppliers are requested. Turkey has signed FTAs with such facilitative disciplines as EFTA, Bosna and Herzegovina, Serbia, and South Korea. Turkey does not have any commitments regarding the independent professionals (including artists and culture professionals) either under the WTO GATS Agreement or under its FTAs. Nevertheless, the facilitative disciplines that Turkey has developed under the Movement of Natural Persons Annexes of its FTAs are applied regardless of market access commitments undertaken under these agreements. On the other hand, during the 8th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has been decided that WTO Members may grant preferential trade in services market access and develop facilitative elements for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The decision is commonly referred to as LDC Services Waiver. Turkey has been one of the first countries to improve its services commitments for LDCs in the context of this LDC Services Waiver. Accordingly, Turkey has granted a work permit exemption for those who will come to Turkey temporarily for less than one month for the purpose of cultural and artistic activities. Foreigner’s applications for a visa to participate in the mentioned international culture and arts organisations are facilitated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Offices abroad if necessary documents are provided with the application. However, per Article 87 of the Act of Fees No. 492, foreign nationals coming to Turkey on the occasion of national or international history, culture, fine arts festivals, festivals, sports competitions, congresses, business conferences, exhibitions, and fairs can be granted a visa without any fees. Furthermore; various international organizations are carried out, and/or support is provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Development Agencies, Culture and Art Civil Society Organizations, and Private Culture and Art Organizations. Within the scope of these events, artists of different nationalities from various countries of the world come together. CONTEMPORARY İSTANBUL           https://www.contemporaryistanbul.com/ ISTANBUL JAZZ FESTIVAL           https://caz.iksv.org/ ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL           https://film.iksv.org/ ISTANBUL MUSIC FESTIVAL            https://muzik.iksv.org/trAKBANK JAZZ FESTIVAL           https://www.akbanksanat.com/caz/30-akbank-caz-festivali AKBANK SHORT FILM FESTIVAL          https://www.akbanksanat.com/kisa-film-festivali/17-akbank-kisa-film-festivali ANTALYA FILM FESTIVAL           https://www.antalyaff.com/tr/

The 1st İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme was organized on 3-8 March 2016 with the participation of 17 publishers from 9 countries. By the end of the program, copyright sales were completed for 178 books for translation from Turkish into other languages. On 23-28 February 2017, the 2nd İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme was organized. This time, the number of participants rose to 30 publishers from 21 countries, which completed the sale of 439 copyrights by the end of the program. The 3rd İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme attracted 209 publishers from 66 countries, and more than 1700 talks were held throughout the program. The number of copyright sales rose to 533. The 4th İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme was organized on 26-27-28 February 2019 with 300 publishers from 72 countries. More than 2700 bilateral talks were held throughout the program, and more than 1000 preliminary agreements were signed for copyright sales. This program also witnessed the signing of a Cooperation and Reciprocity Agreement between Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licencing Society and The Association of Arab Publishers, which initiated cooperation with 14 countries.A Cooperation and Good Faith Agreement was signed with The Association of African Publishers as part of the program. The 5th İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme marked a new participation record with 780 publishers from 98 countries. İstanbul Publishing Fellowship was the first and only international publishing fellowship program in the publishing world in 2020 due to the restrictions arising from the pandemic. With the same enthusiasm and excitement, İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme has undertaken preparations for meeting the professionals from the publishing world in 2021. The schedule was revised considering the pandemic circumstances, and the 6th İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Programme featured a mixture of online and face-to-face meetings. 

The Yunus Emre Institute, as Turkey’s lead cultural actor in the international arena, has launched a new Programme with this perspective, which will carry the intercultural dialogue between the EU and Turkey to new dimensions. The EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme provides financial support to projects designed to bring different institutions with different cultural backgrounds together to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation. The Programme is co-financed by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey under the financial cooperation for strengthening civil society. This phase of the Intercultural Dialogue program has a total budget of €3 million, with nearly 70% of this funding being awarded to four grant projects. The Projects are; Be Mobile – Create Together, Connect 4 Creativity, Diversity in Unity: Intercultural Dialogue Through the Waves of the Danube and Europe’s Neolithic Bridge: Documenting and Disseminating the Neolithic Heritage of Anatolia 1.The ‘Be Mobile – Create Together!’ Four well-established and active cultural institutions in Turkey have joined forces to create a multi-national and multi-disciplinary project. The 'Be Mobile - Create Together!' project is the joint endeavor of the Institute Français de Turquie, the cultural section of the Embassy of the Netherlands, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, and the Goethe Institute, and it will facilitate 16 artist residency programs in France, Netherlands, Germany, and Turkey, Be Mobile – Create Together aims to strengthen the cultural and artistic exchange between Europe and Turkey, encouraging young talent and contributing to a sustainable connection between the Turkish and European art spheres. In addition, it will bring together a range of artists to work together through residencies and locations throughout Europe. The Be Mobile – Create Together project will enable young, digital visual and performing artists and writers from Turkey and Europe to find opportunities to attend residency programs. Throughout the period of July 2019 to May 2020, 26 artists will be enjoying residencies at art houses and studios in Paris, Cassis, and Issy-les-Moulineaux in France; Dresden, Berlin and Stuttgart in Germany; Amsterdam, Maastricht, and Lahey in the Netherlands; and also İstanbul, Ayvalık, Bursa and Şirince in Turkey. 2. ‘Connect 4 Creativity.’ The world faces a wide range of social, political, and economic challenges. These challenges can impact how we live, communicate and experience the culture and may put social cohesion at risk. Thus, it is more important than ever to learn to live together constructively in a multicultural world and to develop a sense of community and belonging. ‘Connect 4 Creativity’ aims to promote intercultural dialogue by bringing together creative hubs and communities for a networked collaborative future. This creative connectivity aims to establish a more cohesive, open, and interlinked civil society. Creative hubs have increasingly become a powerful source globally, transforming cities, spaces, and communities. Moreover, they enable diverse creative talent to connect in ways they hadn’t before, strengthening cross-disciplinary and transnational collaborations. The project provides a platform for students, academics, artists, creative professionals, policymakers, and the general public across Europe to form international networks and participate in creative exploration. Key activities will include research to provide baseline information on the role of creative hubs and communities in promoting intercultural dialogue, three networking conferences, art and technology residencies, with an exhibition and study visit. 3.Diversity in Unity: Intercultural Dialogue Through the Waves of Danube Cultural operators and public institutions have celebrated the unique culture of the Danube river basin for several years as ‘the Danube Weeks.’ These ‘Weeks’ have included various artistic activities across the countries of the Danube region. With this new project of the Hungarian Cultural Centre, the scope of content and scale of the types of activities and geography of the ‘Danube Weeks’ will be expanded. Furthermore, with the participation of Turkey, as a country belonging to the historical and cultural sphere of the Danube Region, the ‘Danube’ cultural tradition will grow and strengthen. Artists and professionals from art, literature, and cultural institutions in Turkey and their counterparts in the Danube countries of the EU will find opportunities to meet and work together in collaborative actions. The project kicks off with a series of activities to be organized under International İstanbul Literature Festival, during which the Danube impact on literature and culture will be discussed. Workshops on creative writing and reading will run at the Festival, with contributions from various artists from the Danube countries. In honor of Europe Day on the 9th of May, the project will host various events and cultural performances, gastronomic presentations, and reading sessions in Istanbul. All these activities will bring a little bit of Danube Culture and the Danube people to the city of İstanbul. Furthermore, capacity-building activities organized in Budapest, Bucharest, and Istanbul will improve the operational and theoretical and informational capacity of the cultural operators. A major activity of the project is to be a ‘Road Show’ that will start in Ankara and continue through the Danube countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and arrive in Brussels just before the closing event.