Participants:

Türkiye, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Greece.

Türkiye's Status at the Organization:

Being one of the founding participants of SEECP, Türkiye has held the Chairmanship of the organization three times in 1998-1999, 2009-2010 and 2020-2021.

History of the Organization:

SEECP was founded in Sofia in 1996 with the aim of establishing an environment of peace, safety and stability in the Balkans, establishing good neighborly relations and regional cooperation. The "Charter for Good Neighborhood Relations, Stability, Security and Cooperation in Southeast Europe" (SEECP Charter), signed at the Bucharest Summit on 12 February 2000, laid the foundation for the Process to develop on a solid basis.

As the only Balkan cooperation forum that reflects the region's common will and unique voice comprising all the countries of the region, SEECP has been well accepted in the international arena, primarily by the EU. SEECP is also seen as an important tool in the context of the integration of the countries in the region with the EU and Euro-Atlantic institutions. SEECP aims to strengthen political and security cooperation among the countries in the region, to encourage economic cooperation and to expand the democratic institutions, justice, combating illegal activities and human dimensions of cooperation.

In addition to the Heads of State and Government Summit, two Foreign Ministers' Meetings and four Political Directors' Meetings, one of which is informal, are undertaken every year within the framework of the SEECP Charter. Parliament Speakers Meeting, Ministerial level sectoral meetings, expert level sectoral meetings and conferences are also held.

The executive "branch" of SEECP, which is structured as a flexible permanent consultation mechanism and has no headquarter, is the Chairmanship in Office.

Parliamentary Dimension:

As a result of the institutionalization of the parliamentary dimension, which started with the regular meeting of the Speakers of the Assembly of the SEECP participants since 1997, the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly (SEECP PA) was established with the decision taken in 2013.

Türkiye – SEECP Relations:

Türkiye favors development of cooperation mechanisms in the region by attaching priority to the principles of "regional ownership" and "inclusiveness". In this context, Türkiye as a founding participant, attaches utmost importance to SEECP, which brings together 13 Balkan countries within the scope of the regional cooperation platform.

Despite the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, Türkiye has successfully fulfilled SEECP Chairmanship in 2020-2021 period and has displayed one of the best examples of regional ownership.

The SEECP Foreign Ministers Meeting and the Heads of State and Government Summit held in Antalya on 17 June 2021 were the most sounding events of Türkiye’s Chairmanship.

After the SEECP Summit held in Antalya, Türkiye handed over the Chairmanship to Greece. Following Greece, Montenegro assumed the SEECP Chairmanship for 2022-2023 period.