The planning process of the Symposium has advanced in line with the Academy’s collective spirit through contributions from various persons and institutions. Participants in the first session consisted of the representatives of the institutions involved in Mediterranean studies, who had also been invited to the opening conference of the Academy in September 2013, including, Dr. Shane Hawkins of the Canadian Institute of Mediterranean Studies, Professor Tamer Gök, the then director of the Center of Mediterranean Urban Studies of Mersin University, Kayhan Dörtlük, the director of the Center of Mediterranean Studies of the Antalya Suna İnan Kıraç Foundation and Professor Ahmet Bayaner, the then director of the Mediterranean Economic Studies Center of Akdeniz University. The topic of discussion in this preliminary session was ‘how to approach the Mediterranean’. The second session’s participants included Professor Zeki Arıkan, Professor Uygur Kocabaşoğlu, the then coordinator of the history unit of the Academy, Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan, who established a Center of Mediterranean Studies at Yaşar University at the same time as the formation of the Mediterranean Academy, Associate Professor Tolga Ünlü, who is currently the director of the Center of Mediterranean Urban Studies of Mersin University and expert Tülin Selvi Ünlü. Both of these preliminary sessions were held in the conference room of the Academy and were chaired by Professor İlhan Tekeli. In both sessions, İzmir’s pursuit of her place within the Mediterranean was noted and the need for İzmir to focus on contemporary conditions and variables in the Mediterranean along with Mediterranean history was emphasized.