Cankat Özkan

Fellowship

Turkey Europe Future Forum

Period of the Fellowship

2020

Project title

Turkey Europe Future Forum 2020

Short biography

Cankat Özkan works as a self-employed conference interpreter. Cankat holds master’s degrees in Conference Interpreting and European Interdisciplinary Studies from Bilkent University, Ankara and College of Europe, Warsaw, respectively. He has interpreted at many high-level and technical events as regards Turkey’s accession to the European Union and the steps taken to that end. During his studies at the College of Europe, he wrote for the Natolin Blog on Turkey-related issues and talked at TEDx College of Europe Natolin. He wrote his thesis on how the Ottoman perception of European identity was shaped following the Treaty of Karlowitz. He is especially interested in the impact of narratives (of both sides) on the progress of Turkey’s EU accession. He describes himself as an ardent European and believes that Turkey, historically and culturally part of the European family of nations, must become wholly part of the European Project on the basis of the highly aspirational and inspirational European values as well.