CIFE Alumni Meeting 2025 in Istanbul

Teşekkürler Istanbul! On the weekend of 26 to 28 September, CIFE Alumni from near and far gathered on the shores of the Bosphorus for our annual international CIFE Alumni Meeting 2025. 

After an artistic start with a ceramics workshop organised by Cini Project in an old caravanserai, which introduced participants to the meaning of colours and motifs in traditional Turkish ceramics, we opened the weekend on Friday evening on the Asian side of the city with a welcoming reception and a fantastic musical performance by CIFE Alumna Su Sonia Herring. Some of the guests dressed to the theme of the weekend: Congratulations to Kateryna Vyrleieva, who won the prize for the best "Orient Express" costume!

On Saturday, we followed the footsteps of Agatha Christie on a guided tour from Sirkeci, across the Galata Bridge, past the Galata Tower, before ending outside the Pera Palace.

In the afternoon, we had the occasion to look at the current state of EU-Turkish relations in a rapidly changing geopolitical context in the premises of the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC). Meltem Muftuler-Bac, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sabanci University, gave a savant and poignant keynote speech on “The EU in the Current Geopolitical Turmoil: Between Trump’s America, Russia, and China”. 
 It was followed by a thought-provoking round table discussion with Alper Kaliber, Senior Fellow at the IPC, Ebru Turhan, Associate Professor of European Studies at the Turkish-German University (TDU), and CIFE Director General Matthias Waechter on "Türkiye and the EU: A New Approach to EU-Turkish Relations”.
 
In the evening, over 50 Alumni and CIFE staff gathered aboard a boat cruise up and down the Bosphorus to enjoy stunning views of the city and a delicious meal.

Finally on Sunday, our guests could admire some of Türkiye's artistic and culinary highlights on a guided tour of the Istanbul Biennial exhibition and a street food tour.

A big thank you to CIFE Alumni Director Emre Gur for organising such a brilliant weekend. And a special thank you to all Alumni for joining the event in large numbers and such good spirits. We look forward to seeing you again in 2026!