ABOUT THE PROJECT

BASIN MANAGEMENT IN TÜRKİYE
Türkiye's application to accede to the European Economic Community, a predecessor of the European Union (EU), was made on 14 April 1987. Türkiye has been an associate member since 1963. Türkiye signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognized as a candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki summit of the European Council. Negotiations were started on 3 October 2005.
The negotiations on membership are, amongst other criteria, on 35 chapters. One of these chapters is the environment and climate change chapter that also covers the river basin management approach of the Water Framework Directive. The environment and climate chapter was opened for negotiations on 21 December 2009.

The Water Framework Directive of the European Union
In October 2000 the 'Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy' (Water Framework Directive or WFD) was adopted and came into force in December 2000.
The purpose of the Directive is to establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters (rivers and lakes), transitional waters (estuaries, lagoons, deltas etc.), coastal waters and groundwater.

The national WFD implementation process in Türkiye
The Turkish water authorities have taken already important steps in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, and carried out sucessful projects, which have provided a good basis to prepare the RBMPs fully compliant with the requirements defined under the WFD.