The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation , based in Istanbul, is Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

's leading think tank

Turkish think tanks

Turkish think tanks are relatively new. Many of them are sister organizations of a political party or a company. University think tanks are not typical....

. Its core program areas are democratization

Democratization

Democratization is the transition to a more democratic political regime. It may be the transition from an authoritarian regime to a full democracy, a transition from an authoritarian political system to a semi-democracy or transition from a semi-authoritarian political system to a democratic...

, good governance

Good governance

Good governance is an indeterminate term used in development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in order to guarantee the realization of human rights. Governance describes "the process of decision-making and the process by which...

, and foreign policy

Foreign policy

A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...

.

It was founded in 1961 as the Ekonomik ve Sosyal Etüdler Konferans Heyeti by the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Nejat Eczacıbaşı

Nejat Eczacibasi

Mehmet Nejat Ferit Eczacıbaşı, known simply as Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı, , a second generation member of the notable Turkish Eczacıbaşı family, was a chemist, industrialist, entrepreneur and philanthropist....

.

Executive board

The following members were elected in February 2006:

• İshak Alaton
  Ishak Alaton
  İshak Alaton is a prominent Turkish Jewish businessman and a founding partner of the Alarko group of companies.-Biography:...
  
  
• Mustafa Alper
• Yılmaz Argüden
• Ayfer Hortaçsu
• Osman Kavala
• Can Paker
• Ethem Sancak
• Mete Sayıcı
• Tosun Terzioğlu
  Tosun Terzioglu
  Tosun Terzioğlu is a Turkish mathematician and academic administrator.Terzioğlu was born in İstanbul, Turkey. He graduated from Robert College in 1961. He studied mathematics at Newcastle University, UK and received his BS in 1965. He earned his PhD from Frankfurt University in Germany in 1968...
  
  

Funding

TESEV has a budget of around $2 million per year, of which $400,000 is covered by the Soros Foundation

Soros Foundation

A Soros Foundation is one of a network of national foundations, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, which fund volunteer socio-political activity, created by George Soros, international financier and self-proclaimed philanthropist, and coordinated since early 1994 by a management team called the...

, and the rest by domestic sources.

TESEV has also received numerous grants from the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, Freedom House

Freedom House

Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...

, the European Institute

European Institute

The European Institute is a nonpartisan public policy organization dedicated to Transatlantic relations. The Institute was founded in 1989 and is based in Washington, D.C.. It regularly hosts forums, roundtable discussions, and programs with political and business leaders from the U.S. and Europe...

, and the United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

. The National Endowment for Democracy

National Endowment for Democracy

The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...

awarded TESEV $100,485 in 2004, and $50,000 in 2006.