The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) was initially established under Statutory Decree Law 480 as an international technical assistance agency under the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1991. In 1999, it was entrusted to the Prime Minister’s Office with a Presidential Order. In 2011, the body of rules and the name of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) were updated and its flexible new structure enabled much quicker decision-making and helped its activities to continue in a more robust manner. TİKA is a public legal entity with a private budget, and since 2018 it carries out its activities under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
In line with Turkey’s humanitarian foreign policy, TİKA continued its institutional growth, widening the geographical and sectoral scope of the cooperation in extensive geography from Central Asia and the Balkans to Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands. Today, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency implements projects in over 150 countries with 62 Program Coordination Offices in 60 countries.