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Editorial Dear delegates These four days have been an intense experience. Not only have you met new people from all over Turkey and beyond – with them, you have discussed some of the most urgent and complicated political issues that Europe faces, and come up with a creative and in-depth set of solution proposals. In the process, I hope, you had a lot of fun as well! This final issue of X-ist shares some final perspectives on the session, EYP and gender equality. In the first editorial I said that EYP was one of the friendliest organisations I know. If you agree with me that our work is not only enriching, but you also had a blast at the session, do read Ege’s article “CJO for dummies” on page 10. Regardless of whether you are selected or not, I hope to see lots of you continue in EYP in many different roles – this is where you can learn about these! Thank you, dear delegates, for sharing your views and personalities so passiontely and sincerely with us for the past few days! And now, enjoy this final issue. Harm Editor Harm van Leeuwen (NL) Video editor Louise van Benschop (NL) Journalists Clémence Rérolle (FR) Ege Yücel (TR) Eirini Daliani (GR) Genco Çakır (TR) Gülşah Özdemir (TR) Konstantinos Andronikidis (GR) Levent Aslan (TR) Martha Saunders (UK) Nina Selmer (NO) Yaprak Yıldırım (TR) 2
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Contents
The truth behind the glitter
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When the physical becomes political
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Inequality: now, everywhere, forever?
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Share the game, build the empathy
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CJO for dummies
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My Istanbul
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The men’s world vs. Abigail’s
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Meet Ms President!
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The truth behind the glitter BARBIE is beautiful; she has the perfect figure, long beautiful hair, clear skin, the best clothes and jewelry, and lots of friends. She really has the perfect life. She is married to Ken; the handsome and stylish guy with the seductive smile. Is this entirely true? Let’s have a closer look into their real life. by Eirini Daliani (GR)
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ne would assume that Barbie lives the perfect life. But you know what they say: Money does not buy happiness. And apparently Barbie’s dream house, pink Ferrari and all those fashionable shoes do not guarantee a happy marriage. Do we really know what is hidden behind all this popularity? A photographer has created a blog where she states that there is tension, betrayal, depression and identity crisis in their marriage. It is like a soap opera created for children. At a young age the majority of us tragically wish that we could be someone different; someone more beautiful or handsome. Unfortunately many girls look at figures like Barbie and wish they could have it all, like she has. There are many guys out there who are insecure because of the way they look, how they are built, and they wish they could also have it all. In addition to this, Barbie is many boys’ dream girl, and for many girls Ken seems to be the prince on a white horse that they are waiting for. Their lives are filled with dream homes, flashy convertibles and ever-stylish wardrobes, but Barbie and Ken’s lives might be less than perfect. The promotion of the perfect couple has a negative impact on children’s minds. On the one hand, Barbie is assumed to be a sex object, the woman who has to be always in fashion and goes nowhere without her makeup. On the other hand, Ken is assumed to be a homosexual who is afraid to reveal his preferences because he has been convinced that his popularity depends on the image of the perfect and always in love couple. Every single person has the right to be who really wants to be. The key to happiness is to be proud of who
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we are without caring what the others think. Nobody has the right to criticize us. Barbie and Ken are just dolls, but we should not forget that we have flesh, mind and heart. •
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When the physical becomes political DOMINATED by men, politics are a challenge for women. Beyond the regular issues they have to deal with, they also face male prejudices concerning the decisions women make on hard topics. That is why they often resort to adopt masculine characteristics. by Konstantinos Andronikidis (GR)
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istory has proven that when females decide to join politics, they are pushed indirectly to change their attitude or even their appearance. Instead of being allowed to reveal their feminine body curves if they chose to, women put on more conservative outfits. Those that dare to wear floral dresses are being laughed at or even offended by their male counterparts. The pressure is even bigger when women hold high power positions like head of states or head of International Organisations. Female leaders like Margaret Thatcher or even Angela Merkel had to adopt a manly attitude to cope with their male-dominated environment. They somehow had to lose one part of their identity so as to be accepted in politics. Of course there are those stating that women in politics never lost their female part, they are just powerful females who care about the important things and not
just about make-up and fashion. Aida (AL) states that women do not always have to be on high heels and it depends also on personal style or opinion whether they are dressed conservatively or not. Also strong character does not indicate that a female is forced to act like her male counterparts to be heard. When I asked some delegates whether they think that women are indirectly forced to change some parts of their character or appearance just to fit in a man’s world, the answers were quite interesting. Serkan (FEMM) stated that women might change the way they deliver speeches or communicate because in real life they are too talkative and they tend to analyse even the tiniest details. Naz (CULT) on the other hand believes that women are stressed to change their appearance in fear that they might trigger comments and harm their reputation.
Did Merkel and Thatcher have to lose part of their female identities to be accepted as politicians?
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Inequality: now, everywhere, forever? HAVE you ever thought that you are unlucky from birth? I have. My brother, who is eleven months older than me, has always been the favourite child in our family. No matter how much I strive to be successful, my grandparents and relatives never appreciated my efforts as much as they appreciated my brother’s. He always got what he wanted easily while I was struggling for everything. However, it seems like I am not the only one who is affected by gender discrimination. It is good to find some delegates who can understand my situation.
Ekin Dolgun (LIBE I) “Once we decided to do something exciting and extreme like go-cart as a group of friends. When we went there, the man who is in charge of the path gave the equipment to the boys but not to me. He told me that it is not a girly thing.”
by Gülşah Özdemir (TR)
Berkan Duman (AFET) I have lots of friends who give girls a hard time with their glances.
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Elif Dülger (FEMM) When my brother was 12 years old, he was allowed to do anything he wants. However I still had to get my parents’ permission to go out when I was 15. Because I am a girl!
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Selin Değirmen (CULT) “I am a passionate fan of Galatasaray. I always cheer for my team during the games. My male friends always tell me that soccer is not for girls and kindly ask me to shut up.”
Ilgaz Südütemiz (LIBE II) “While I was going to my school with my uniform on, people in the bus, mostly male ones were staring at my legs. All I could do was to hide my legs behind my bag. It was so disturbing!”
Zelal Binici (AFCO) Most of the men think that women should not be involved in traffic, because they cause a lot of problem with their ‘clumsiness’.
Bilal Özcan (SEDE) I think it is unfair that the boys have to ask for date but not girls. Isn’t it against gender equality?
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Share the game, build the empathy SPORT connects people beyond their cultural and national differences by making them share same feelings. Though it increases the empathy for differences in general, gay athletes in team sports still feel a huge pressure to hide their sexual orientation. by Levent Aslan (TR)
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lexey Sorokin, the chair of FIFA World Cup 2018 which will take place in Russia has been quoted defending Russia’s anti-gay law:
teammate due to the prejudices and fears indicates the unsettled culture of equality in team sports. According to these athletes, especially sports that include consistent physical contacts like hockey, basketball and foot“It is designed against active propaganda of hoball are considered as “macho”; therefore homosexual mosexuality, not against homosexuality itself. That players are supposedly against the character of those is a big difference…Would you like a World Cup sports. where naked people are running around displayHowever, there is one famous German football playing their homosexuality? The answer to that is er, Mario Gomez, who claims that sexual preferences quite obvious.” should not be hidden by saying “that being honest about their sexuality would improve gay players’ perConsidering that there is a massive formance”. Another football player, crowd who is incapable enough to Robbie Rogers from Los Angeles correlate homosexuals with only Galaxy, has adopted this approach pure nudism and sexism just like and became America’s first openly Sorokhin, it is understandable why gay sportsman. With the huge suphomosexual athletes are concerned port he took both from fans and his about the discriminative comments teammates he regained his confiand enormous pressure they would dence and became a pioneer for othhave to deal once their sexual preferer athletes. Time will tell whether ence is publicised. In addition, their his example will be followed or not. careers would be threatened or even Sport is all about sharing and come to an end. Jason Collins, a 34 enjoying the game irregardless of Footballer Robbie Rogers got years old NBA veteran, did make a any kinds of differences. Hence prohuge support when he anpublic announcement and is still out moting respect for all kinds of sexual nounced that he was gay of contract. orientation in teamsports will be a The main reason of homophobia huge step on realizing the spirit of in team sports is the lack of empasport. This step may hopefully create thy and understanding in general. A a domino effect on different areas of lot of professional athletes suggested peoples’ life and build the empathy that they would refuse to have a gay for different genders everywhere, teammate because it would affect everytime. • the locker room atmosphere negatively and they would simply feel “uncomfortable”. Failing to accept a
Jason Collins is still out of a countract 8
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CJO for dummies Every session consists of different groups of participants: delegates, chairs, journalists and organisers. Being successful in each one of these positions requires a different set of traits and qualities, and mastering a field may require more than a few sessions’ experience. In this series of articles, our correspondent we will be investigating what it takes to be a remarkable member of the chairs, journalists and organisers team, or the so-called CJOs, with the help of those who make up the 14th National Selection Conference’s CJO team. by Ege Yücel (TR)
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hairpersons, or the “C” in the CJO, are the most important body for the facilitation of academic work in the session, besides the delegates. Considering the amount of effort being a devoted delegate requires, it is hard to imagine how hard it is to moderate tens of them. Duties of a chairperson don’t only demand a wide range of academic knowledge relating to the topic, but they also demand high social skills. In a nutshell, it is possible to say that a chairperson is the individual who leads the committee in the right direction while being actively informative within the committee as a mediator. Coming to the journalists, they feed on raw media materials such as photos and video fragments, process
Occasionaly, chairs tend to form hunting parties for survival
them using their creativity and produce entertainment. They are always on their toes for the latest gossips. However, entertainment is not the sole purpose of journalism within the EYP: the journalists also function as impartial observers during the debates, recording every event and providing unbiased consultation on a variety of topics. Last but not the least, the “O” stands for the organisers, upon whose shoulders the session stands. If the chairs and delegates are the organs of a session, whereas the journalists are the soul, then it can be said that the organisers are the bones that keep the session from collapsing. Their hard work and devotion is what makes a session possible and being an organiser requires more than simple patience with the other participants’ demands. To be an organiser, one has to give their all to make sure the session runs smoothly. In a way, they are the guardian angels of all participants, providing them with food, accommodation and the most importantly parties. To sum up, all of the groups within a session have their own strong traits and equally important duties, therefore, it is impossible for one to exist without the others. •
Berk (TR), a typical example of a hard-working chair 10
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My Istanbul I HAVE never experienced anything like Istanbul. Beyond being overcrowded with people, and cars, the city is saturated with passion. Is this passion a product of the place in itself or of its people? by Clémence Rérolle (FR)
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can remember my first taste of Istanbul – back in late July – as clearly as if it were yesterday. As I arrived in Beyoglu in the middle of a warm summer night, thrills grew inside of me. The unfamiliarity of the place and the feeling of insecurity Istanbul conveys were overwhelming. I was out of place, ignorant of this strange environment. Yet I was loving it. I was mesmerized by the indescribable magic that fills the air of Istanbul. The ingredients of this magic recipe? A feeling of disorder and incessant frenzy everywhere you go. A sense of chaos made possible by the extremes characterising Istanbul. It is indeed a city of many contradictions, where the same area can be home to the most elitist of schools as well as to the riskiest side streets. As I rambled around Taksim a lot, I was perpetually confronted to a mixture of divergent sensations, ranging from exhaustion and confusion to excitement and tranquillity. As
much as I was a tourist, I felt at home. I was possessed by the passion and intensity of the local life. Half way between the East and the West, bridging two continents together, finding its roots in the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman traditions, “the City of Gold” is indeed the land of golden opportunity. As a rare cultural hub, Istanbul is a unique opportunity and experience in itself. This place embodies many things at the same time, all of which successfully merge into a single entity. It is a city where all dreams and all realities converge, despite Istanbul’s seemingly eclectic picture. What gives Istanbul its enchanting powers? What turned it into a beautifully chaotic puzzle? At the meeting point of civilisations, Istanbul is rich with diversity, which means it can only breed people who breathe with passion, act on passion and stand for passion. •
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The men’s world vs. Abigail’s LADIES and gentlemen, let me introduce the actors and actress of the Abigail to you! by Yaprak Yıldırım (TR)
Elif (FEMM): Abigail
İpek (SEDE): the mother
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lif and Dünya are two lovers who live in a village that is divided into two parts by a river. The only way to go to the other side of the village is to the cross the bridge linking the sides. One day, the bridge collapses unexpectedly, leaving Elif and Dünya on separate sides. To see Dünya, Elif asks a sailor if he could take her to the other side. Deniz, the sailor, says he could if she slept with him first. Elif gets quite confused by the idea and decides to ask her mother what to do. Her mother İpek refuses to give her a certain answer, believing that this is something Elif should decide on her own. Then, Elif ’s desire to see Dünya gets too strong to resist, which causes her to cross the river by sleeping with Deniz. When Deniz finds out about it, he gets furious and breaks up with Elif. Feeling terrible, Elif talks to a friend called Arda. Arda finds Dünya’s action extremely unfair and cannot help but to beat up Deniz. “Who do you think is the guiltiest one in that story?” was my question to the participants, which was answered by two different points of view. 39% of participants said Elif, while 42% of them went for Arda.
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Dünya (LIBE I): the boyfriend
Arda (LIBE I): the friend
Team Elif: Elif should not have slept with Arda. She had other options. She could have waited until the bridge was reconstructed or until Dünya found a way to come to her. She should have been more committed to the values and morals.
Deniz (AFET): the sailor
Team Deniz: Deniz could have been more understanding and helpful. Elif was not going to be any extra burden to him. He could have taken her to the other side without charging her with anything. He took advantage of her.
The poll shows that the way we look at the unapproved sexual intercourse depends on how we perceive gender roles. We consider women guilty for having sex no matter why they do it. It could be for getting out of a bad situation or simply for the joy of it. As for men, we believe that they are guilty only in case of taking advantage of women. Gender roles are everywhere even if we do not see them. After all, this really is a men’s world. •
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Ege Yücel: First of all, how do you like the session so far? Does it exceed your expectations particularly from the academic point of view? Are you satisfied with the output of the chairs, delegates and journalists now that the committee work is almost over? Franziska Maier: I really enjoyed the session so far. It especially exceeds my expectations since the delegates seem very enthusiastic about EYP and seem to be having a lot of fun. Many delegates have put a lot of effort in it, and it shows in the resolutions, so, I’m very happy. There are very innovative approaches in FEMM, people taking a strong stand in AFET and I think that committees are covering the problems standing behind the topics. Also I think the press team’s issues cover the core theme of the session which I find very nice. Ege Yücel: We know that GA is an important part of the academic programme. It is where you see the results of your work from other parts of the session. What do you suggest the delegates to do during the GA? Franziska Maier: I think the most important thing is to 14
be constructive with what you’re saying. I think it is a good thing to be passionate when delivering your points and clearly point out what the resolution is lacking. It is very easy to criticise the resolutions, but I think it is more important to be constructive since it is the only way we can advance and develop, so I definitely suggest that. Ege Yücel: Let’s come to your EYP career. What did you do on your journey to presiding a session? Franziska Maier: I started EYP in 2008, which was long time ago. A friend of mine discovered EYP. I was quite critical at first and didn’t want to go, but I really enjoyed it. Then I got involved mainly with EYP Germany and German sessions where I organised frequently. Then I went to the ISs in Helsinki and Frankfurt at the same time of starting chairing and journoing. I have done a lot of EYP ever since. Ege Yücel: How did EYP change your life? Did you meet very good friends or changed your bachelors degree because of EYP?
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Meet Ms President! Franziska is the lady behind it all: she coordinates everyone and everything, and makes sure that the academic part of the conference runs smoothly at all times. She supervises everything, and is the key factor on the way to perfection during the session. She might even be watching you. Prepare for the one to rule them all, I present you, Franziska Maier. by Ege Yücel (TR)
Franziska Maier: I’ve been interested in politics since I first started EYP when I was 17. EYP helped me realise that I only have to be confident to approach this field successfully. I study public management and governance, so I can say that EYP influenced the field of my studies. EYP is also one of the greatest hobbies you can have: you get to travel around Europe and experience new cultures. Also I share my flat with other people that I know from EYP. Ege Yücel: What do you suggest for delegates to do with their EYP careers? Do you think that they should continue EYP? Franziska Maier: I think that you only get a good picture of what EYP is once you’ve been to more than one session. Though I love being a delegate very much, I think that it is in many ways very good to be a chair, journo or an organiser too. So I definitely suggest them to continue EYP in different positions.
Franziska Maier: I believe there are very different approaches to presiding a session, so there isn’t a general recipe. But for me, presiding means enabling all the teams in the session to be the best they can be. What I did before the session was to draft the topics, together with EYP Turkey and the organisers so that there would be more interesting topics to discuss. I prepared with the board for the training. It is one of my duties to pass on the EYP spirit and experiences to others. I also have the duty to make sure that everyone is happy and the interaction between the teams is running smoothly and also maintain the relaxed atmosphere and keep away from the intense pressure that you’ve mentioned. Ege Yücel: Thank you very much and good luck with the upcoming GA. •
Ege Yücel: What does it take to be the president? How do you keep up with the intense pressure?
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