turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

ig room (organising committee, delegates, staff, more than 30 people) and
they felt betrayed that AEGEE had forced them to accept an enemy in their
playground. We should not forget that there were -even now they still are- a
lot of political differences between the 2 countries. The occupation of northern
Cyprus, the lack of respect and rights for the Greek families and Greek citizens
living in Istanbul combined with the continuous wars between the 2 countries
for the last 200 years made the members of AEGEE-Athina think that they lost
a major battle between Greece and Turkey.
All the other members of AEGEE-Athina decided to leave the plenary session.
This was their only way of protesting against the AGORA. I was the only one
to stay. I was feeling extremely confused. My “Greek” side was feeling
that something sentimentally wrong happened but my “European” side was
extremely happy that the students in Turkey wanted their country to look
towards Europe. Although they had such a big battle trying to convince the
people around them, finally they achieved a great step forward for themselves
and their own country. I was glad as a European that these students were there
with me in the same room and I had the opportunity to discuss with them! This
was my first major European event that I participated to as a simple member
of AEGEE-Athina. This event changed my whole life.
2. How the idea of a cooperation between the two countries
started? And which were your movements?
The idea of a Greek and Turkish cooperation started with a communication
between Fırat Ateşak and me, a little bit later AEGEE-Istanbul and AEGEE-
Ankara became members of the AEGEE network. A cultural exchange could only
be described as crazy and insane at that time. Whenever I tried to discuss this
as a member of the board of AEGEE-Athina, the rest of the members simply
stopped any conversation and nothing could be initiated from us.
In November 1994, at the Agora in Montpellier I was elected to the board of
directors of AEGEE-Europe, so I had the chance to understand how important
was to see beyond the Greek borders. After that I became president of AEGEE-
Athina on November 1995. My main goal, as president was to make this first
cultural exchange between AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Istanbul a reality. Nothing
could stop me! I had the power; I could decide and represent AEGEE-Athina so
everything was my responsibility. Even if I didn’t have the full support of the
board of AEGEE-Athina, I was the one to decide whether the antennae would
make the exchange or not. So I created an organisation team, I had a vision of
having Greek and Turkish people working together and had the passion to make
this come true. A total of 25 people were going to participate and travel to
Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe
Istanbul for one week.
3. Which was the political background in that days and how this
affected your plans?
In January 1996, Turkey and Greece were at the brink of war because of an
incident at the islands of Imia, which caused great tension between the two
countries. All the Greek participants cancelled. There was no one willing to
go to Turkey. They were all afraid of their lives and they thought going to
Turkey was an act of suicide. But this was not the case for me. I couldn’t let
this incident stop my strategic goal of bringing the Greek and Turkish students
together. I believe that we had more to unite us than to divide us. But in
my board I was the only one who had this opinion. The rest of the 8 board
members were fully against it. “I am not going to let any of the participants of
AEGEE-Athina to die” said one of my board members. I said “No… I am taking
full responsibility for their lives. The exchange will happen”. People in AEGEE-
Istanbul were telling us that we should not be afraid; that they had more
than 30 participants and that they were very willing to come. I encouraged
the organisation team to go on with the project. I told them to forget about
the troubles and the negative environment that was at that time. We started
calling all the participants back again. Finally 14 of them said that they were
willing to go to Turkey. And so it happened and it was a big success!
4. How do you feel that after all these years, a project like
“Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue” exists and it has such a great success?
I feel a huge satisfaction and I am very proud that I took that decision. I’ve been
telling that to my friends all over Europe inside and outside AEGEE for the last
10 years.
5. Do u think that there is future in such a cooperation?
Definitely! I would like to congratulate all the people who have contributed and
have actively participated to the “Greek-Turkish Civic Dialogue”. Do not forget
that after the earthquakes in Turkey, Turkish people understood how much we
the people of Greece like them and want to be living together with them.
Peacefully cooperating with each other, having fun, dancing tsifteteli, eating
all the nice food that we share and doing business together. I wish that the
politicians understand how much their people like each other and will start work
together for the common interest of both countries within a unified Europe.
Introduction
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