issue
16th National Selection Conference Istanbul | 20 - 24 November
ED TO
RIAI
Dear all,
note
this issue is the very first attempt of the Media Team of the 16th National Selection Conference of EYP Turkey. We include a warm welcome to each and every one of you and hope that the next few days will remain indelibly imprinted in your memory. Furthermore, this issue contains a summary of all topics, along with another point of view. 13 people worked for this publication, each one of them making an effort to give you an idea on what to expect and what to hope for. Welcome. The journey has just begun.
Dimitris and Irida
Editors of the session
Issue 1 // 16th NSC of EYP Turkey // Istanbul | 20 - 24 November 2014 // Dimitris Davris (GR) // Irida Karasmanoglou (GR) // Zura Giorgobiani (GE) // Anastasia Ntracha (GR) // Quirin von Blomberg (DE) // Alinda Ohotski (TR) // Furkan Kalender (TR) // Cevahir Köprülü (TR) // Nehir Hatipoglu (TR) // Ömer Oguz (TR) // Sezen Deniz Tokadam (TR) // Zeynep Demir (TR) // Can Altunkaynak (TR)
CONT ENTS page 4
WELCOME
page 10
AGRI page 11
CULT AFET II
AFET I
page 12
page 13 page 16 page 15
page 14
SEDE
DEVE FEMM
page 18 page 19
ITRE
LIBE II
LIBE I page 17
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Advices from a f Hey all! Welcome to a place that you can be free, creative and fun! First, we might seem to you as overjoyed, loud, weird people doing strange things. However we are, as a matter of fact, smart and decent people. Please do not be alarmed by the very first day of the session, where you will be asked to perform a lot of things, just enjoy it! Enjoy the moments when all other friends of yours are struggling with their school and not having so much fun. These will be couple of days where you will experience that learning and discussing can actually be fun, when you are together in a great group having really good time together. Below, you will find some little advices that might work for you during the session. Hope it helps! 1. Do not try to look cool during the first day, believe me you will not be able to. Just play the games, enjoy them and try to get to know your group as much as possible. 2. Do not refrain from saying anything you want to say. Any ideas and thoughts that linger in your mind, things that you feel a little uncomfortable about...anything! 3. On the first day, we will all just play games together. Try to be involved and try to be responding to your chairs. This is not the place you should feel shy; you will be respected no matter what. 4. Please always be with the group, it is so important that you move with the group and do nothing on your own. If you must, please inform your chairperson so that he/she knows and will not search for you everywhere. 5. Last but not the least, love your officials, love your committee, love the games, love the topics and love the session! You are going to miss it when it’s over.
by Zeynep Demir
4
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
former delegate Welcome y’all! I hope you’re as excited for the session as I am. I’m sure this is the first session for most, and for others another chance to do what you love. For first timers it’s usually an intriguing experience. To create a group with many random people and discuss topics concerning European Politics to form a legitimate resolution isn’t what a 16 year old usually accomplishes, let alone accomplishes it in 4 days. During this time, we, as the journalists’ team, will be watching you and catching every serious, funny and, yes, embarrassing moment there is! Don’t shy away from standing out or doing crazy things. If you do stuff like that you just may be on the cover of an issue or be a part of the session video. I have to reveal that in my only delegate experience, I was caught up with the resolution and was never a part of neither issue nor paper. While doing all these things though, do not forget the people in the background, the organisers. Thank them, hug them and take a picture with them! Let your appreciation be known. They will always be working, even if you may not see them around. Well, that’s all from me for now, you will hear more quite soon!
by Furkan Kalender
5
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
How can you recognise an EYPer?
At the airport
During hang-outs with friends
At home
On social media
Typical classy, semi-formal attire (sweaters with shirts for the boys definitely scarves for the girls) carrying a suitcase and necessarily a backpack or a laptop bag, looking curiously around for organizers with same coloured t-shirts and seeming terribly lost.
He/She will be the one talking about the combination of conferences and parties, laughing and getting excited with the mere sound of the words jellyfish, bear hunts and fishermen (aka allele) and having the weirdest game ideas to pass the time
Skypeing with a bunch of people all around Europe and having necessarily a wall/corner/cabinet/shelf dedicated to EYP, session badges and all sorts of souvenirs (borrowed not stolen of course) such as airplane tickets, GA pens, hotel cards etc.
Having a Facebook profile picture either with a suit in front of a podium or with a smile of pure bliss rolling around on the grass during teambuilding and writing statuses about a new kind of depression (PED- Post EYP Depression) escorted with Macklemore or sad goodbye songs. EYP is a big family of dreamers and idealists! Welcome aboard!
by Anastasia Ntracha
6
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
EYP Dictionary If it’s the first time eve you’re attending an EYP session, then you are likely to either hear some words you haven’t heard before or you’re going to hear words you know, used to mean something else. Here are some terminologies that I think may be useful for you.
Topic overview
Orga
Resolution
It’s a brief explanation of your topic written by your chairperson, that you should make sure to read before the committee work. (Ps: Express your appreciation to your chairperson, he/she probably spent a weekend working on it.)
Orga is actually a shortcut for organiser. Orgas are the most hardworking and altruistic people of the session. If you see someone shouting and giving people directions he/she probably is an orga and you better listen to them, if you don’t want to end up in the wrong committee dinner venue or something like that.
NO, it’s not the chemical process of separating or reducing something into its constituent parts. YES, it is important. A resolution is basically decisions of a committee about the issue they’ve been tackling for two days of committee work. In General Assembly delegates of the proposing committee get to present it and all committees vote it. (Ps: A good resolution is the key to fruitful debates in GA, I can’t wait to see the outcome of 2 days of hardworking).
by Sezen Deniz Tokadam
7
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
The road to glory Being an enthusiastic and impatient man about the next four days, I welcome you to one of the most phenomenal journeys of your lives. Honestly, I did some “don’ts” during my first session that’s why there are some advices for you, even though it’s not my right to tell you how to behave: DOs: -Let yourself feel the joy of Teambuilding! When you participate in, it will be utter fun, although it looks weird sometimes. -Be confident in yourself! The fundamental cause of the pressure is just you. Relax and have your say in Committee Work. -Back your committee mates up! Those people will help, listen to and make the session special for you; eventually they will be your family. -Listen, evaluate, discuss and respect! Being calm and developing empathy will raise the quality level of debates. DON’Ts: -Ignore the games! After you win all of them, your chair will put you on a pedestal, of course. -Be out of the discussions! Analyse every detail of your mates’ words and disagree ceaselessly until they give up and throw their chairs to you. -Forget to act natural in front of the camera! Otherwise I will follow you till the moment you look creepy.
by Cevahir Koprulu
8
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Types of chairs Hi everyone, Before this awesome session starts, I want to give you a heads up about the procedure of the session and the things that you will have to face during the session. To start with the good news, the first day will be all about getting to know each other and we will play lots of fun games. After this fun part of the session, you will have two days of Committee Work and one day of General Assembly, which will be definetely challenging for you. For the ones, who will have their first EYP experience, the common chair types are as follows: -The punctual chairs will plan everything in the session and you will be able to discern this chairtype from their specific behaviour of looking constantly at their watch. -The cool chairs are opposite of the punctual chairs and they are always relaxed, whether they are in Committee or in General Assembly. -The evil chairs usually lay down somewhere, while the delegates are working. This type of chairs tends to prohibit fun games and shortens the coffee breaks. -The mother chairs consider their delegates as children and their most conspicuous behaviour is to ask for chocolates and snacks in order to feed their delegates. In the end regardless of your chairperson’s type, you as delegates are the ones, who render this session posibble and I hope you will enjoy the forthcoming days!
by Ă–mer Oguz
9
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
The topic which will be discussed is about a problem that’s important not only for a specific country or European Union, but for the rest of our planet. The global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. In present times, even though the global population is much less than the aforementioned number, 3.1 million children* die every year because of malnutrition, meaning half of children deaths are caused by this problem. At some point humanity will experience difficulty in providing such a large population with enough food and some measures should be taken in order to solve this problem before the situation gets even more threatening than it already is. Even though the dispute seems rather unsolvable at first, even the smallest steps from individuals can make changes, considering that we, consumers, are among the key actors. There are already a lot of organisations and researches turned towards this issue, but I think more can be done by society (i.e. by avoiding wasting food, recycling etc.). For instance, food wasted per year only in India, China and USA could feed additional 400 million people. Delegates of AGRI are going to try to come up with some solutions to this problem, considering not only the needs of humanity, but also environmental factors, such as the effect of agriculture on climate change and biodiversity, and find answers to several questions such as by what means EU can deal with it and encourage international community to take further steps towards it. I’m already sure they’ll do a great job. * Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition, The Lancet, 2013
by Sezen Deniz Tokadam
10
AGRI
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Education is an important tool that is applied in the contemporary world to succeed, as it mitigates the challenges which are faced in life. The knowledge gained through education enables individuals’ potential to be optimally utilised owing to the training of the human mind. This opens doors of opportunities, which enable individuals achieve better prospects in career growth. Thus, education plays a paramount role in the modern industrial world. However, there is still a remarkable discrepance between formal education and work life. Even though there is a sufficient number of universities in the European Union (over 3300 universities), the skills demanded by the labour market are usually not taught during formal education, which has crucial influences on youth unemployment rates. Therefore graduates are forced to start their career as interns, in order to master the skills to function in the labour market. Meanwhile the Bologna Process, Youth on the Move and Erasmus+ packages are some operative steps to solve the disparity between education and work life by equalizing the curriculum within the member states and providing trainings for students in the EU. Although these steps are proven to work, there is still much to do in order to minimize the rupture between formal education and the labour market, since the unemployment rates are still excessively high in some Member States such as Greece and Spain. Hence the EU Commission must take actions to untie this issue, so that the citizens have the knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the labour market.
by Ă–mer Oguz
CULT
11
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Since the EuroMaidan protests commenced, the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine has caused dramatic casualties. The replacement of Yanukovych’s government, the annexation of Crimea, the sanctions on imports and exports as well as individuals and the clashes between Pro-Russian militias (with the support of Russian Army) and Ukrainian Army have worsened the relations by creating a world-wide conflict beyond the borders of Ukraine. The battles in Eastern Ukraine threatening Russian minority (as Russian government had claimed) was the fundamental reason of Russian Army’s operations in Crimea, which has turned into concerns in Eastern Europe, as there were Russian minorities who have not been well treated by their governments. The increase of actions of Russian Army near Baltic States’ borders have resulted in the call for military support, which was responded by NATO increasing its deployments in the region. Following to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in March 2014, Russia has aggravated the situation. The economic ties between Russia and the EU have been damaged by stricter sanctivons and concerns over energy supplies have emerged in Europe, as Russian oil and gas companies threatened them with serious cuts. Obviously, it has hog-tied the EU by forcing them to protect their territorial integrity whereas their commercial relations with Russia deteriorate. Russia has brought about a fear throughout Europe with its disregardful strategy and illegitimate excuses to take military actions for the protection of Russian minorities. With the signing of the treaty of Eurasian Economic Union, they officially showed their interest on a strong cooperation against the EU, which has been the main cause of the crisis since it began.
by Cevahir Koprulu
AFET 12
I
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
The rise of the terror organisation ISIL seeking to build an Islamic caliphate in Eastern Syria and North-western Iraq poses a new threat to achieving lasting stability in the Middle East region. While civil war in Syria over the last three years has left roughly 10m people fleeing their homes, the advance of Islamic State further aggravates this humanitarian catastrophe. ISIL increasingly functions as a well-organised shadow state with, for example, imposing “jihad taxes” and establishing social services, yet heavily relying on coercion regularly in form of public executions to suppress dissent. In combination with the financial funds from private donations, oil revenues and ransom money amounting to a budget of more than $2 million per day, this has made ISIL a powerful actor in the region. The NATO coalition under the lead of the US has taken action in providing military, financial and humanitarian assistance, including air strikes on ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria. Political representation of both the Shia and Sunni faction can be the only measure to ensure lasting stability. The replacement of Prime Minister al-Maliki in Iraq with the more inclusive, less sectarian Haider al-Abadi was the first step to reduce popular support for IS by installing a government representing the Sunni minority. The same principle holds for Syria, which poses further challenges, yet represents a crucial determinant for the region’s security. The EU and its partners should facilitate dialogue in the Arabic region between the key actors Iran and Saudi-Arabia, representing Shia/ Sunni factions that have fuelled, in the past, conflicts supporting their respective party.
by Quirin Blomberg
II
AFET 13
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
After a very devastating summer of 2014, Palestine is once again in ruins. More than 500.000 people lost their homes and their means of livelihood all over again. They cannot reach basic human needs, such as healthcare services, clean water and food, without external help. Aside from huge civilian casualty, almost the whole area of The Gaza Strip, where the majority of the Palestinians live, with approximately 4.5 million of population as a whole, is now in a destructed state. Hospitals, shops, state buildings, some UN headquarters and of course schools were under attack and they are now demolished. These were mostly constructed with the help of some global institutions like ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department). However helpful the funds supplied by the EU, with non-stable political conditions and the unsustainable economy it brings, Palestine again has to rely on external aids to, basically, live. Only in 2014, ECHO funded 33.6 million Euros to give emergency help to the occupied area. Nevertheless the occurrence of the same disaster over and over again and Israel’s having no principles in its attacks whatsoever, makes the potential investors think twice. Knowing that there has been and always will be a danger of another attack, investors do not want to throw their money away. Together with the blockades pursued by Israel on Gaza for seven years now, preventing certain goods and construction materials to be allowed inside the Gaza Strip and also not having land connection between Gaza and The West Bank to foster redevelopment, make all the investments to the area inefficient. Israel’s causing the destruction of the Gaza airport, which was constructed with 9.5 million budget, is an example pretty enough for the investors to decide not to spend further for the area. Therefore, the question of what measures should be taken to ensure a safe environment for investments and to make sure they will not turn to remnants of money is highly crucial, as the funds spend to the area are huge and highly important for EU and its Member States.
by Zeynep Demir
14
DE VE
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Each and every one of us uses the internet daily. We check our mails, do research, post new pictures and get excessive notifications from our social media pages. While you are doing these do you ever think if there’s someone looking at your information from another computer, from across the globe. Odds are someone just actually might. With the internet expanding its borders to about every type of technological device, we are all granted many services that once did not exist. In addition to these services we are more vulnerable than ever. Cybercriminals can breach systems and reach the information they desire. Even high-profile government databases have been broken into. Naturally, it is the job of the government or possibly huge companies to stop such actions. Unfortunately, in recent events, many governments over the world have lost peoples’ trust with their actions of mass-surveillance. This creates a dilemma in which we are possibly in danger of being hacked, and we cannot be sure if we can trust the people above us with our personal information. In this current state we must be aware of several things: Firstly as there is not an unsinkable ship, there is no system that cannot be hacked. Modern day standards make this impossible. Secondly, while using social media or the Internet in general, one must be quite careful. As cliché as it may sound, even the smallest of information in the wrong person’s hand can lead to cybercrime. An address, telephone number maybe even a check-in? Instead of waiting for the ship to sink, we must try and maneuver it to a more safe and sound path, so that we can go on.
by Furkan Kalender
SE DE
15
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
The progression of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) across large areas of northern Syria has caused population movements (6.4million internally displaced people), with reports of grave violations of human rights in areas under their control. As a result the sustained influx of Syrians is increasing the burden on host communities and fuelling tensions in neighboring countries. Furthermore, threatened with the denial of entry by legal means, many people are forced into arduous journeys, risking their lives on boats or across land, to seek safety and protection in Europe. The reason that European countries are reluctant to open up their borders can be explained by the logistic and social challenges posed by a large influx in difficult economic times as well as the failure of the CEAS to harmonize asylum policy across Europe. However push-backs of Syrian refugees would amount to a violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the forcible return of anyone to a country where they risk serious human rights abuses, such as in the case of Syria. Now that the problems are identified, it is time for action! Firstly, European countries should explore alternative legal routes of admission into Europe for refugees (ex family reunification). Moreover, European countries with a shared responsibility should decide upon the proper opening of each country’s borders and increase the number of resettlement and humanitarian admission places. Besides under EU rules an asylum seeker has the right to food, clothing, first aid and shelter in a reception centre and thus he should always be treated with dignity. Lastly, more politicians need to step up and recognize this crisis for what it is: a massive, multi-regional disaster that shows no signs of abating, which is causing the protracted suffering of millions and which Europe can do far more to alleviate. It is time for European charity on the Syrian maelstrom of death, destruction and displacement that rage on, to begin at home!
by Anastasia Ntracha
16
LIBE
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Islamophobia has been a major concern of the EU in recent years. In France, 691 and in the UK 500 Islamophobic acts were recorded just last year. These numbers are worrying, but, what’s even more worrying, are the actions that the governments are taking. Netherlands has passed an anti-burqa law, France has set restrictions on halal slaughter (slaughter of animals for meat by draining all of their blood) and Germany banned Muslim prayer in public schools in the last few months. Although the numbers of Muslim citizens in the EU are growing, the EU Member States are getting more restraining about their lifestyles. However, this attitude won’t do EU any good, as the Muslim members of the society are here to stay. The main conflict is the difference between religion and law systems of societies. Sharia are laws designed conveniently to Islamic traditions, differing from EU laws. Thus, Muslims have a difficulty to adopt to the rights they didn’t have before, as well as restrictions on their traditions, like forced marriages and polygamy. The perception of EU citizens is that Muslim traditions are violating human rights and they don’t want to accept these acts in their societies. The question is what should the EU do? In my opinion, the EU should realise that Muslims are their permanent citizens from now on and they should give them the rights of EU citizens. Mutual understanding between religious groups should be settled, anti-discrimination and blasphemy laws should be reconsidered. The question is; How do we do all these? I leave this question for LIBE II to answer.
by Alinda Aleksandra
LIBE
17
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
Violence against women has become a growing concern in our society today and the EU is struggling to deal with its disastrous effect. It is noted in the EU agency for fundamental rights that in Europe one women in three has experienced violence. Yet, something even more interesting is that in countries like Denmark, Belgium and Sweden, which are known for gender equality, there is a large amount of violence against women. However, the amount of violence does vary between poor and better off countries. Another factor, which has increased violence, is the development of technology. This has transformed the violence into forms such as cyberbullying. As a result of the growing threat against women, the Istanbul Convention took place. The convention’s topic was preventing and combating violence against women. This produced the first legal boundaries in violence against women. Unfortunately, this resolution was found useless by many for it didn’t propose any solutions to overcome the problem. Another growing concern is that most try to prevent this violence, instead of helping those who’ve gone through it and this results in the victims receiving very little aid. I believe that yes, there is need for urgent action, since many women are suffering each and every day. We have no right to sit back and discuss possible resolutions. Instead, we must offer them a helping hand today, rather than a vague offer in ten years. If our existing institutions are not sufficient, they must be developed and if needed, new ones should be established. Certain policies should be implemented throughout the EU, however, specific conditions ought to be left to Member States to adjust to their countries’ needs. Considering that women are indispensable members of our society, they should be respected by all means. This is why we must admit that they are the most vulnerable group. Even though we should not focus solely on women, we must do so to a grand extent. As for the victims; other than helping them gain access to all psychological therapy they seek, we should try to have them accepted and more importantly, feel accepted in our society, by showing them that there are those willing to help them and that, as a whole, the EU is supporting them until the very end.
by Nehir Hatipoglu
18
FE MM
16th National Selection Conference European Youth Parliament Turkey
SMEs are defined as small and medium-sized enterprises. The main factors determining whether a company is an SME are the number of employees as well as the turnover or balance sheet total. Small and medium-sized enterprises provide two out of three of the private sector jobs and contribute to more than half of the total value-added created by businesses in the European Union. Moreover, SMEs are accepted as the true back-bone of the European economy, being primarily responsible for affluence and economic growth, besides their key role in innovation and R&D. Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implemented for the Europe’s global competitiveness in the future in order not to be dragged into another financial crisis that might harm the SMEs and destruct the economy in the Member States. The horizon is set on the EU’s blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth that will ensure a genuine single market for knowledge, research and innovation. In my opinion, before all, the media is the key actor so as to underscore the importance of the horizon, since it is the bridge between the government and the people. If media could be used effectively, it is likely that the required awareness will be raised. Additionally, if the legal processes could be regulated, such as providing overdrafts for the people or companies who are in need of a quick source of income, that might ensure the continuity of the company, as well as the stability of the economy, the financial crisis that people and organisations are afraid of, could be prevented, or dealt with in the most efficient way possible.
by Can Altunkaynak
IT RE
19
HOST SCHOOL Galatasaray Lisesi
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