turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

A STORY OF PARTNERSHIP
BETWEEN FRIENDS OF EMIGRANTS
The partnership of young enthusiastic members of AEGEE
and the grandchildren of emigrants from the Foundation
was an amazing learning experience for both parties. Many
meetings at the Foundation Cihangir officeandAEGEE-Ankara
METU office, phone calls, discussions over the organisation
details, sometimes many gaps and misunderstanding,
new friendships and memories. Everything was to make a
symposium and mainly bring the people together on the
80 th anniversary of the compulsory exchange of population
in the beautiful city of İstanbul.
The symposium aimed at tackling with social, political and cultural aspects of
the compulsory exchange of population, its consequences and the changed lives
of 2 million of people who had to take part in the exchange. This symposium
bears significance as it was the first ever international symposium on the
exchange of population to take place in Turkey with 26 speakers from Greece
and Turkey. Thanks to its high level academic speakers and the interesting
spectrum of participants from journalists to researches, from the grandchildren
of emigrants to the young people who currently write their Ph.D and master
thesis on the subject matter, it was the most academic event of the Turkish-
Greek Civic Dialogue project.
The event was also providing a bridge between the KayaFest Youth and Culture
Festival and the Final Conference of the Project. Some of the young people
as well as musician Muammer Ketencoglu, who were previously in Kayaköy, a
village that experienced the population exchange, were this time getting into
more historical and academic discussions about the topic.
The symposium was attended by a lot of people who are interested in the
subject as their research field also and it proved useful for them as they
never stopped taking notes during the symposium. The overall symposium was
also attended by some of the representatives of the European Commission
Delegation in Ankara.
Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe
Yaşar Kemal, a legend in Turkish literature, also made a nice surprise to us with
his attendance to the symposium where he contributed with his experience of
exchange of population in Turkish and Greek literature.
The symposium ended with a very interactive closing cocktail which further
enhanced the dialogue between different stakeholders present at the meeting.
Below you will find some most interesting notes from the symposium.
The full proceedings of the symposium
were translated into Turkish and edited
by Müfide Pekin and published by Bilgi
University with the title: Yeniden Kurulan
Yaşamlar 1923 Türk-Yunan Zorunlu
Nüfus Mübadelesi www.bilgiyay.com
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME
NOVEMBER 7 2003, FRIDAY
09:00 –09:30 Registration
“Population Exchange Reconsidered”
The Compulsory Exchange of Populations
Between Greece & Turkey
(80 th Anniversary)
09:30 – 09:45 Welcoming Speech
Ümit İşler – LMV & Burcu Becermen
AEGEE Ankara
09:45 -10:30 Keynote Speakers
Dr. Renée Hirschon (Oxford University)
Prof. Paschalis Kitromilidis
(Center for Asia Minor Studies)
Prof. Halil Berktay (Sabancı University)
Population Exchange
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