The Journey to Becoming the European Capital of Culture The European Capital of Culture concept was launched by Melina Mercouri, the Greek Minister of Culture in the 1980's. It was approved by the European Union Council of Ministers. This title, bestowed upon cities that contribute "added value" to European culture, was fırst given to Athens in 1985, and then to one European city per year. Beginning in 2000, more than one city was selected each year as European Capital of Culture, and the program was further extended to include cities from candidate countries, such as Istanbul. This decision by the European Union in 1999 to expand the project to cover countries that were not full members, motivated a group of interested volunteers from non-governmental organizations to meet on 7 July 2000 to establish an Initiative Group, in order to get İstanbul nominated for the title. Until then, there had always been local or national management of the nomination process within the cities taking part in the European Capital of Culture program. This NGO movement, however, helped İstanbul establish a new and important criterion for her selection as the European Capital of Culture.

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