Turkey to become Associate Member State of CERN

Geneva, 12 May 2014. CERN Director General Rolf Heuer and Mr Taner Yildiz, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey today signed an agreement admitting Turkey to CERN Associate Membership, subject to ratification by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Meclis. "The Turkish scientific community has a long and proud history of involvement with CERN's programmes stretching back over 40 years," said Professor Heuer, "it is therefore a great pleasure, and an honour for me to cement that relationship with today's signature." " This is a very special moment for Turkey and Turkish scientific community", said Mr Yildiz. " Today we signed the agreement for "Associate Membership" to CERN, which reflects decades of achievement where Turkish scientists have contributed to the European scientific efforts at CERN. I am fully confident that with this signature, the relations between Turkey and CERN will further develop on a win-win basis." Turkey was granted Observer Status at CERN in 1961. In 2008 a Co-operation Agreement between CERN and the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) was signed concerning the further development of scientific and technical cooperation in high-energy physics. Turkish physicists have participated in a number of CERN experiments over recent years, notably CHORUS where they made several important contributions to data analysis.