About Us

The Turkish Atlantic Council (ATA Turkey) was established in 1965 as the Turkish branch of the Atlantic Treaty Association, which was founded in 1954. The primary mission of our association is to protect Turkey's interests within NATO and to ensure that Turkish positions are correctly understood by allied countries and relevant experts. We carry out this work in direct contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and its relevant units.

ATA Turkey conducts research and analyses on foreign policy, security, and defense matters related to the Atlantic Alliance. We also organize seminars and exchange ideas with experts across the ATA network.

To carry out this work, we organize summits, conferences, roundtable meetings, and workshops, addressing issues related to Turkey's security and foreign policy agenda on both national and international platforms. The Antalya Security Conferences, organized by our association from the 1980s through 2015, brought together NATO decision-makers. Today, this tradition continues under the name of the Turkish Atlantic Security Conferences (TASC), held annually since 2018. TASC is at the center of our activities and serves as the main platform where critical alliance issues are discussed with decision-makers, academics, and experts.

Our association's work is directed at politicians, decision-makers, government officials, diplomats, academics, researchers, think tank experts, media professionals, and civil society representatives. Cultivating the next generation of security and foreign policy experts is also among our priorities. We reach students and young professionals through our youth branch, YATA Turkey, offering concrete opportunities through internship programs and international networks.