by Nicole Pope, Today's Zaman, Turkey - At a time when the court case against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is putting additional strain on already difficult relations between Turkey and the European Union, it might seem frivolous or even irrelevant to discuss cultural cooperation between the EU and Turkey. But Michael Vögele, head of the civil society and institution building section at the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey in Ankara, argues that it is precisely "when things are difficult" that collaboration in arts and culture matters most.