The German-Turkish Youth Bridge is an initiative of the Mercator foundation. It aims at intensifying student and youth exchange between Germany and Turkey, bringing young people together, fostering mutual friendships, and at improving the possibilities of bilateral exchange. According to the motto "Strong Bridges between Germany and Turkey" its objective is to further improve and enable greater understanding between Germany and Turkey and to strengthen relations between the two countries through youth exchange programs and other realted activities, such as supporting, informing, advising, interlinking and training anyone interested or involved in bilateral exchange.
The German-Turkish Youth Bridge was officially launched on Saturday, 21 June 2014 in Istanbul in a ceremony attended by Federal Foreign Minister Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
There are almost four million Turks in Germany, the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey in the world, which is why the two countries have close cultural ties. the number of young people visiting Turkey from Germany is to be increased as well as the number of exchange programmes available to young people from Turkey - the ides is that lack of information, support, or funding should no longer place an obstacle to this goal from being achieved in the future.
The Mercator foundation is investing around 2,5 million euros in the Youth Bridge from 2012 to 2018. The German-Turkish Youth Bridge further receives state funding from the Federal Foreign Office and from the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Representatives of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports are members of the binational advisory board, as areadditional partners in both countries who play a central role in the work of the Youth Bridge.