The Peace and Migration Camp with the theme of Empathy, organized by Rotary International District 2440, Group 5 Clubs Gökdere, Heykel, Özlüce, Uludağ and Balıkesir Rotary Clubs and Balıkesir and Gökdere Rotarct Clubs, with the contributions of AIESEC and UNESCO Association Bursa Branch, was held in Bursa on 16-17 December 2023.
In the event where speakers and participants from countries such as Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, Ukraine, Egypt, Egypt, Syria, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Chad, Algeria, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, India, the concepts of empathy, peace and migration were discussed.
In his speech, Prof. Dr. Barış Özdal, Head of the Interdisciplinary Migration Department of the Department of International Relations of Uludağ University, who was among the speakers, focused on the causes and etymological structure of migration and types of migration and examined the question "why do human beings migrate?".
In his speech, Mr. Cumhur Aksan, President of the Mudanya Branch of the Lausanne Exchange Association, informed the participants about the Lausanne Exchange, the first and largest mass exchange made through official means.
Business people who came to Turkey as immigrants and settled in Bursa; Evelina Şinasi and Reza Karimi conveyed their expectations before coming to our country and the experiences of non-compulsory immigrants in our country when they arrived.
Speaking at the end of the day, Rotary International Peace Group Coordinator Arzu Alpagut emphasized the importance of empathy by playing an empathy game with young people in her workshop.
On the second day of the event, Ayça Şentürk, a member of Balıkesir Rotary Club, talked about their trips abroad based on the international friendship exchange activities carried out within Rotary and mentioned the importance of the exchange organization for international partnership in Rotary Projects carried out to serve the society.
Prof. Dr. Emre Ertürk, who is a Computer and Software educator in New Zealand, talked about the differences and similarities between countries as well as the difficulties he experienced when he went to New Zealand.
In the empathy workshops led by Barış Erzeren, a member of Gökdere Rotary Club, foreign participants tried to empathize with refugees, while their experiences as immigrants, expectations and intercultural communication concepts were examined.
At the end of the day, Ömer Faruk Akay, Chairman of AIESEC Bursa Board of Directors, talked about the AIESEC program. İlker Özaslan, President of UNESCO Bursa Association, informed the participants about UNESCO and the concept of World Leader Atatürk.
While the effects of peace and empathy on migration were examined with the pleasant workshops held during the event, Turkish culture was also introduced to the foreign students participating in the event.
At the end of the event, the participants and speakers were honored by Rotary Past Federation Presidents İsmail Rodoplu and Serdar Durusüt, Rotary Federation Vice President Mehmet DAL and the presidents of the host clubs, Mr. Ertuğrul Savaş (Rotary Club of Balıkesir), Figen Erdağ Demircan (Gökdere Rotary Club), Ozan Razgrat (Heykel Rotary Club), Erkin Biyan (Özlüce Rotary Club) and Özer Şahin (Uludağ Rotary Club) presented Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's relief and commemorative plaques with the words Peace at Home, Peace in the World.
The event ended with the singing of Rotary International's slogan "Create Hope in the Worl", which is the theme of the period, and a photo shoot.
