Association for Liberal Thinking held the second workshop in Batman city in the very southeastern part of Turkey where the majority of the population is Kurdish, within the Project conducted in cooperation with Union for Free Education.
Beside the debates on the values and principles of a free society and a liberal educational system , specific problems of Turkey such as official ideology and education, democratization, Kurdish issue, new constitution were among other discussion topics in the meeting. The meeting took two days with the presentations of Prof. Atilla Yayla, Dr. Murat Yılmaz, Assoc. Prof. Bilal Sambur, Prof. Tanel Demirel, Hüseyin Yayman ve Ahmed Hamdi Ayan.
Among the participants there were representatives of civil society organizations, opinion leaders, and mostly teachers from Batman and neighboring provinces. General impression of participants who were very much interested in the discussion was that the workshop had been really useful to better approach and find solutions to the educational problems of Turkey as well as other general issues related to Batman. In addition, they expressed that the workshop provided a proper platform where every participant was respectful to each other and constructive discussions took place in spite of different opinions.
Moderators: Yusuf Tanrıverdi and Bilal Sambur
9th April 2011, Saturday
09:30 – 09:45 Registration
09:45 – 10:00 Opening: Mustafa Sevinçer, Union for Free Education , Batman BranchOffice Head; Arda Akçiçek, ALT, Program Coordinator
10:00 – 11:30 Common Institutions of Human Civilization, Turkey and Freedom, Prof. Dr. Atilla Yayla, Plato College of Higher Education
11:30 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:30 Rule of Law and Need of Civilian Constitution, Dr. Murat Yılmaz, Political Scientist
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:00 Freedom of Religion and Conscience and Turkey, Assoc. Prof. Bilal Sambur, Süleyman Demirel University, Divinity School, ALT Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion and Conscience
16:00 – 16:30 Break
16:30 – 18:00 Liberal Democracy and Turkey, Prof. Tanel Demirel, Çankaya Uni.
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
10th April 2011, Sunday
10:00 – 11:30 Kurdish Issue and Possibility of Democratization of Turkey, Hüseyin Yayman, Gazi Univesity
11:30 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:30 Official Ideology, Freedom and Education, Ahmet Hamdi Ayan, Free Education Union
13:30 – 14:30 Closing and Lunch
Moderators: Yusuf Tanrıverdi and Bilal Sambur
9th April 2011, Saturday
09:30 – 09:45 Registration
09:45 – 10:00 Opening: Mustafa Sevinçer, Union for Free Education , Batman BranchOffice Head; Arda Akçiçek, ALT, Program Coordinator
10:00 – 11:30 Common Institutions of Human Civilization, Turkey and Freedom, Prof. Dr. Atilla Yayla, Plato College of Higher Education
11:30 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:30 Rule of Law and Need of Civilian Constitution, Dr. Murat Yılmaz, Political Scientist
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:00 Freedom of Religion and Conscience and Turkey, Assoc. Prof. Bilal Sambur, Süleyman Demirel University, Divinity School, ALT Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion and Conscience
16:00 – 16:30 Break
16:30 – 18:00 Liberal Democracy and Turkey, Prof. Tanel Demirel, Çankaya Uni.
19:00 – 20:30 Dinner
10th April 2011, Sunday
10:00 – 11:30 Kurdish Issue and Possibility of Democratization of Turkey, Hüseyin Yayman, Gazi Univesity
11:30 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:30 Official Ideology, Freedom and Education, Ahmet Hamdi Ayan, Free Education Union
13:30 – 14:30 Closing and Lunch
Please follow the link to read Prof. Atilla Yayla's column on his impressions about the meeting and Batman here: http://todayszaman.com/news-241300-the-sun-rises-batman-by-atilla-yayla*.html