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The kick off meeting was used to get an overview on the overall project and to meet experts and counterparts that are involved in the project with special emphasis to CITES.

A “CITES Working Group” was established and started the clarification work, communication e-platform was installed and terms of reference decided. Activities of the Covenant were scanned, opinions were exchanged on different topics; the state of the art in Turkish CITES implementation was roughly outlined and deficiencies worked out in order to confirm or specify the necessary activities within the scope of the project. The  time schedules for the organisation of future meetings of the Working Group and other workshops were approved. Report of check of present Turkish legislation with regard to CITES is under work. A comprehensive "to do list" will ensure sound preparation of the forthcoming meetings.

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Final version of Authorities and competences of Turkish authorities involved in CITES implementation could be agreed on. Workshop with Customs and Security Authorities (Gendarme, Police, and Coast Guard) turned out to be very useful.  Representatives showed them very active and interested and were invited to join the regular CITES Working Group's meetings thus completing the group's representatives. Synergies could be identified with other Twinning projects e.g. insertion of CITES matters into the establishment of Forensic office (police).

The first “CITES Training Course” was scheduled and the draft programme was agreed on from German and Turkish side; organisational preparations to be started. The publication of the Turkish Animals Welfare Act on 24.06.04 gives new impulse regarding minimum housing standards of animals (CITES prerequisite for the import of live animals) and rescue centres. Moreover it opens a new (side) field of CITES implementation regarding all aspects of (exotic) pet trade.

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This mission was mainly dedicated to (1) CITES WG meetings 8^th/9^th, and  (2) Rescue Centre tour (19.09.2004 to 24.09.2004).

Database presentation by the representative of the Scientific Authority revealed severe deficiencies (lack of basic CITES knowledge, CITES nomenclature not taken into account, pictures used not suitable for identification of specimens and without the legal rights to use them). It is almost impossible to use the database for the purposes of CITES implementation even if some minor adjustments are made

Totally 14 persons participated to the “Rescue Center Tour”. Beside the German twinning coordinator (Ms. Birgit Heinze) the following German experts took place: Prof. Dr. Huber Lücker, Dr. Thomas Ziegler, Dr. Günter Gerlach and Dr. Ronald Kaiser. The following institutions were inspected during this excursion:

• Customs at airport and harbour in Istanbul

• Rescue center for bears in Bursa

• Customs at airport in Izmir

• Bosphorus Zoo in Istanbul

• Izmir Zoo

• Ankara Zoo

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This mission was mainly dedicated to (1) First CITES Training Course (basic level) and (2) CITES WG meetings 10^th/11^th.

The basic course carried out in Antalya city from 22.11.2004 to 29.11.2004 at the guesthouse of the MoEF. The German experts, namely Dr. Ute Grimm (Scientific Authority, Zoology), Dr. Uwe Schippmann (Scientific Authority, Botany), Franz Böhmer (Management Authority, Customs Liaison Officer) and Markus Böhne (Customs Training expert) and the Turkish experts, namely Serap Kantarli (MEF, Game and Wildlife Department) and Dr. Ece Tanrivermis (MARA) were well prepared and presented their lectures highly professionally. All participants were actively taking part. The final evaluation discussion together with STEs and participants revealed that both aims (transmit information as well as “train the trainers”) have been well achieved.

“Train the trainer- concept” a basic level course had been tailored. Different ways of teaching CITES matters thus were an important part of the program and sources for information and presentation patterns for public use were introduced. Participants thus were enabled to tailor their own presentations for future use.

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This mission was mainly dedicated to Second CITES Training Course (basic level). The course was realized from 11.04.05 (arrival of the participants) to 22.04.05 (departure of participants) in Ankara at the Education Centre of Customs at Ulus. The seminar was chaired by the Turkish coordinator, the German coordinator attending only to the first day. The participants came from the different organizations active in CITES.

However, the general attendance of the participants was well above average. A Letters of Participation as handed over to the successful participants at the end of the course. The program of the second basic training course had been amended by Turkish presentations under the heading “CITES in Turkey” as proposed by the participants of the first course.

The German experts, namely Dr. Ute Grimm (Scientific Authority, Zoology), Dr. Uwe Schippmann (Scientific Authority, Botany) and Franz Böhmer (Management Authority, Customs Liaison Officer) and the Turkish experts, namely Serap Kantarli (MEF, Game and Wildlife Department),  Dr. Ece Tanrivermis (MARA) and Mr. Erden Temel (Customs) were well prepared and presented their lectures highly professionally. Two presentations under the heading “CITES in Turkey” namely by the Scientific Authority and the customs had to be canceled due to the lack of lecturers.  The organizational and technical support by the hosting Training Centre of the Customs was excellent.

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A two week CITES training seminar was held from April 11-21, 2005 in the customs training center in Ankara. Two STEs conducted the training sessions from April 11-13: Dr Ute Grimm and Dr Uwe Schippmann (both Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Bonn).

The 18 participants were mainly customs officers. In addition, some colleagues from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry for Foreign Trade attended.

The seminar courses were held by the STEs. Modules focussed on the work of the Scientific Authority, the CITES Appendices and on the identification of birds, reptile skins and plants from wild or cultivated sources. The participants actively participated in the seminar, especially during the exercises which were very well received.

The working language of the seminar was English, with consecutive translation into Turkish. This became necessary because eight participants were not able to speak English. It was therefore decided to compensate this by an ad-hoc consecutive translation into Turkish which was performed by participants from the Ministry of Environment.

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A two weeks’ training seminar was held from April 11-21 in the training center of the Customs in Ankara. Two STEs conducted the training sessions from April 11-13: Dr. Ute Grimm and Dr. Uwe Schippmann (both from Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Bonn).

The participants very actively participated in the seminar, especially during the exercises, and most of them were present during the whole time of the various sections

The participants of the seminar came from institutions and authorities with a high range in CITES knowledge from no knowledge at all to some CITES experience.

In Antalya all participants and trainers stayed in the same place. This led to a good identification with the seminar group and assisted to good group dynamics. In Ankara participants and trainers stayed in different places and only met during the seminar hours. This did not support a good socialisation within the group, although the seminar participants joined each other during the tea breaks and the lunch. The technical support for carrying out the seminar was very good.

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A two week CITES training seminar was held from April 11-22, 2005 in the customs training center in Ankara. Two STEs, Dr Ute Grimm and Dr Uwe Schippmann (both Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Bonn) conducted the training sessions from April 11-13. The second part from April 18-22, 2005 was held by the signing STE.

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