A seven-member jury panel recommended on Tuesday that the 2010 European Capitals of Culture (ECOC) be awarded to Istanbul along with the cities of Essen in Germany and Pecs in Hungary. After the European Parliament's decision, culture ministers from the 25 member countries will have the final say in November.   It's a nice coincidence that those three cities were named as cultural capitals. Pecs is a city of many solid Ottoman vestiges as well as the birthplace of chronicler İbrahim Pecevi. Essen is a city populated by many Turks in the Ruhr region. The Germans and the Hungarians both have a long and deep relationship with Istanbul.   A civilian initiative:   The achievement was as significant in method as it was in substance. The sentence that was included in the jury's decision -- “the bottom-up process, as well as the active role of the civil society, were considered as crucial assets of the proposal” -- refers to one of the most significant deeds the steering committee has accomplished. We managed to put in place, despite the administrative culture of the country, a structure where the civil society, local government and the central government work and have and equal say. If that can be instrumental in transforming the classical local government into good governance this will be one of the most valuable benefits of the ECOC project.

Being an ECOC, just like becoming an EU member, has a different meaning for each person as well as for different segments of society. As EU membership creates different expectations, being an ECOC also projects different expectations, sometimes contrasting ones. For example demolishing and rebuilding a neighborhood would mean aesthetic and commercial added value to one person; whereas to another it would mean an outdated practice in urban transformation plus being harmful to human texture. One of the most challenging tasks awaiting the future committees would probably be achieving constructive results from different approaches and from opposing interests.   If regaining the living urban structures through an ambitious cultural policy without damaging them can become the common objective then most existing and future problems will be eliminated. The route to this lies in the co-working culture created during the five-year long preparation period.

Fresh blood for the EU process:   In terms of our accession process to the European Union, Istanbul's being selected as an ECOC in 2010 may have a boosting effect on our rather lagging EU affairs. Correspondingly, if accession to the EU continues without interruption, 2010 is halfway to our possible full membership date of 2014. Even if 2014 is not officially pronounced for our accession, 2010 stands as a precise date for Istanbul to be ready. This will require a practice of “forward thinking and getting prepared,” something we are not really accustomed to.   In terms of informing and educating the European and Turkish publics, the ECOC project will be a very functional workshop whereby the clichés on both sides will be revisited.

The ECOC project is powerful enough to alter the “us and them” approach, dominant in both sides. Because you become the cultural capital of those you name “them” and vice versa, a city inhabited by those who are considered as “others” by Europeans becomes their capital of culture. Is there a better means of understanding each other?   Remembering that the Turkey debate in Europe is mostly based on cultural differences, the possible contribution of the ECOC project is clear -- it's not necessarily only to prove that Istanbul or Turkey is culturally European, but also to explain that it is both European and more.   The prime minister answered the question of “what will we gain?” during the press conference on Wednesday, not in terms of financial figures, but said, “We will gain Istanbul and we will make Europe gain Istanbul.” In a broader approach, this bid does look like a gain for everybody. Because “culture” may exceed its limited and classical scope to brighten up other fields from administrative culture to culture of coexistence, from culture of peace to political culture.