Foreign Ministry plans contact offices in five cities

The decree outlining the authorities and duties, administrative position, structure and organization of these contact offices was published in the Official Gazette on Thursday and subsequently went into effect.

Until recently, the Foreign Ministry had only one contact office, in İstanbul. The ministry had opened a second contact office in İzmir several months before Thursday's decree was published. Fatma Dicle Kopuz, Turkey's former ambassador to Slovakia, has been appointed to head the İzmir office.

The Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya and the northwestern border city of Edirne were cited by the Anatolia news agency on Thursday as potential cities to host contact offices.

Providing consultancy to local authorities regarding their external relations, preparing projects for promotion of host cities and helping provincial authorities obtaining funds allocated by foreign institutions are some of the duties of the contact offices outlined within the decree.