Deputy Minister of National Education Orhan Erdem stated at the closure ceremony of Students Learning about the EU Project that common values of the EU like human rights, freedom, rule of law, gender equality, and rights of children are the common rights and values of the whole humanity. Deputy Minister for EU Affairs Ali Şahin said “I felt that Students Learning about the EU Project made our young people full members of the EU”. Counsellor François Begeot from Delegation of the EU to Turkey expressed that the EU vision of young people of Turkey improved because of the Project.

Students Learning about the EU Project, of which Ministry of National Education is the executive institution, had its closure ceremony on the 9^th of December in Ankara. Opening speeches of the ceremony were given by Deputy Minister of National Education Orhan Erdem; Deputy Minister for EU Affairs Ali Şahin; Counsellor François Begeot, Head of Economic and Social Development, Delegation of the EU to Turkey; Central Finance and Contracts Unit Director Emine Döğer; and General Director of European Union and Foreign Relations, Ministry of National Education Funda Kocabıyık.

At the ceremony, also the winners of painting, slogan, short-story, and quiz competitions gave speeches. All of them: Esra Yatkın, winner of 2015 “Tell Me the EU” Painting Competition, from Denizli Merkezefendi Ekrem Başer Middle School; Yasin Arıkan, a member of the winning team of 2015 “I’m Learning the EU” Quiz Competition, from Ankara Etimesgut Anatolian High School; Tuğba Erdaş, winner of the 2016 slogan competition, from Ankara Sincan Tuna Üçer Middle School; Nevzer Karaman, winner of the 2016 short-story competition winner, from İzmir Güzelbahçe Doktor Güngör Özbek Anatolian High School, expressed that competitions and Students Learning about the EU Project, their study visits to Brussels and Strasbourg had a positive impact on their lives.

Deputy Minister for EU Affairs Ali Şahin, on the other hand, said that Turkey’s membership will be good for EU’s heart arrhythmia, which is caused by terrorism, immigration, etc., and EU should have the dream of a peaceful climate for other geographies, too. He continued saying: “We should not discriminate Aleppo’s children from Paris’, Brussels’, London’s children. If it condemns Aleppo’s children to the cool waters of Mediterranean, it is EU’s failure. Our relations with the EU did not start in 1955. Turkey is a natural part of the Europe”. Şahin emphasized that he felt like Students Learning about the EU project is making the young people full members of the EU. As a continuation of this project, another project must be implemented, telling about Turkey to the EU.

Counsellor François Begeot from Delegation of the EU to Turkey expressed that the EU will be in a better position with accession of Turkey. He mentioned that negotiation process is very valuable for them and Turkey is a part of the family. Begeot reminded the audience that Europe has problems like terrorism, unemployment, and elderly population and needs a young Turkey. He said young Turkish people should benefit from education opportunities in Europe and went on saying “EU will support the young. I guarantee this. I am in Turkey for two years and it felt good what those young people said at videos that I watched.”

General Director of EU and Foreign Relations Funda Kocabıyık mentioned that approximately 33 thousand secondary school students participated at painting, slogan, short-story, and quiz competitions that were conducted in the years 2015 and 2016 within scope of the project. “In other words, we are talking about 33 thousand children to whom we reached only through competitions and helped in increasing curiosity, level of knowledge, and awareness about the EU. Also, when we add the surveys implemented on 60 thousand students at the beginning and at the end of the project, their families and circle of friends, their teachers, staff of our Ministry, other students participating at our other project activities to this number, we can easily claim that our project has reached 150 thousand people.” Kocabıyık emphasized on that when European Union chooses not to protect what is at hand but planning the future, then it will be the “winning force”.

A presentation including two years’ story of the project, project spot films, and a trailer of 20 educational short videos on the EU were also screened at the ceremony where results and outputs of two years’ work of the project were shared. Ceremony ended with a Mevlevi Sema Ceremony.

Provincial General Directors of National Education from 81 provinces, staff of the Ministry, and representatives from related institutions attended the ceremony that took place in Grand Ankara Hotel (Rixos).

With its long name, Technical Assistance for Students Learning about the EU Common Values, Fundamental Rights and Policies, is a project that is implemented between December 2014 and December 2016 with a budget of 3 million and 256 thousand Euro consisting of many activities, among these the most important ones being quiz, painting, slogan, and short-story competitions, to create awareness about the EU.

Click for the agenda of the ceremony.

MoNE Undersecretary Yusuf Tekin, who attended the International Conference “Turkey and EU Common Values: Reflections on the Education System-2” organised by General Directorate of EU and Foreign Relations of MonE, reminded the audience that Europe is entrusted with protecting the common values in the name of humanity and said that “Notions like democracy, human rights, state of law are common accretion of humanity. The EU is one of its protectors. Teaching these values that are accretion of humanity to our children is our goal”.

Opening speeches of the Conference were given by MoNE Undersecretary Yusuf Tekin; Counsellor François Begeot, Head of Economic and Social Development, Delegation of the EU to Turkey; and General Director of EU and Foreign Relations Funda Kocabıyık.

Undersecretary Tekin said that values come out in geographical places, however, these geographical places change during the course of time; Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Middle East, America, and Europe host this accretion and as the common accretion changes place, it is the one that protects it that at whichever geography the dominant force of that period is being constructed.

Tekin expressed that as the Ministry, they initiated Students Learning about the EU Project at a time when public support for EU membership was in a decline and they acted keeping in mind that people behave timidly in the face of the truth that they don’t know. They took the first steps with enthusiasm of students’ learning about the EU. Tekin mentioned that Students Learning about the EU Project’s only aim is not to contribute to the accession process and reminded the audience that it was two basic parameters for students to learn the EU in terms of both institutional structure and the values.

Deputy Head of Delegation Gabriel Munuera Vinals from Delegation of the EU to Turkey also gave an opening speech. He expressed that the EU is much more than a common and single market, and the EU is providing freedoms and rights in their largest scope and getting even larger. Vinals said that “Turkey is also a part of the EU. The EU brings together many countries with different customs. The EU will be successful as we share these common values. Turkey is getting closer to the EU”.

 “Democracy is an indication of the act that everybody’s rights will be respected”

Vinals expressed that story and quiz competitions that were previously carried out by the Delegation of EU to Turkey had already brought thousands of students together and with Students Learning about the EU Project another step has been taken. With additional slogan and painting competitions, awareness of students, families, teachers, and related target groups is raised.

Vinals ended his speech with those words: “We have to work for cooperation with others. Democracy is an indication of the act that everybody’s rights will be respected”.

Funda Kocabıyık, General Director of EU and Foreign Relations, reminded the audience that the aim of Students Learning about the EU Project is to raise awareness and knowledge level of the society about common values of the EU and fundamental rights. She stated that they have finished many activities targeting secondary school teachers and students during two years of the project. Kocabıyık said that the most important focus of the Project, which is going to end in December 2016, is EU common values and fundamental rights. She went on saying “These values had not came into existence with and are not exclusive to the EU. They are universal values which all civilized world accepts and give a place at their national policies. They are values like human rights, democracy, rule of law, justice, freedom of expression, gender equality, rights of children, environmental rights, urban rights, which are required to be recognized as a human being and a civilized society. Those values have meaning as they are internalized by the society and used at everyday lives.”

“National policies and implementations must include common values”

Kocabıyık said that one of the activities carried out in order to acquainting the target groups with the importance of these universal values was to conduct international conferences to think and discuss on methods of transferring common values and fundamental rights to the education system. “When we mention mainstreaming, which is also a part of the title, we are talking about coalescing common values and fundamental rights with policies and their implementations, preparation and structuring of policy texts and implementations in a way including these values. This year, we will be discussing how we can use creative drama, which is a successful pedagogic method used in all around the world, in affirmation of common values”.

Many EU and education experts coming from both Europe and Turkey participated at the second international conference with the title of “Turkey and EU Common Values: Reflections on the Education System-2” that is conducted within the scope of the Students Learning about the EU Project, which is carried out by the Ministry of National Education. Conference took place between 16 and 17 November and it was focused on how education and creative drama can become a tool in increasing awareness of the society about EU’s common values.

The first of the key note speeches was given by Lida Kita, Expert on Turkey and Israel from European Training Foundation with the title of “The Methods for the Mainstreaming of the Common Values in Education”. Kita expressed that within the framework of the EU, it is very important to have education on human rights and this isn’t based only on schooling but also non-formal and formal training.

The second key note speech was given by Senior Education Expert Anders Nils Henrick Lönnqvist. The title of the speech was “EU Common Values from an EU Citizen’s Point of View” and he assessed EU values as a Finnish. “Cultural diversity, equity, democracy, and rule of law in fact summarizes fundamental values of this project. To understand and implement these, skill, knowledge and understanding are needed. Approach is required. We can call it framework of EU qualification.”

Prof. Öcal Oğuz, Chairman of the UNESCO Turkey Board of Directors, gave the third key note speech with the title of “Why Common Values are Important in Our Daily Lives?”. Oğuz said that “We have to think about values not as something coming from the West to the East but as an interactive entity, both of them together. Then it is possible to include them in dramas. To think of diversity as something respectable also makes it necessary to assess them together. If value is not included in social life, then transfer of that value fails”.

At the afternoon program of the Conference’s first day, Prof. Tülin Sağlam from Department of Theatre, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, Ankara University, gave a speech titled “How We Can Mainstream the Common Values via Creative Drama”. Following that, psychological counsellor and creative drama expert Yılmaz Erdal gave his speech with the title of “The Pedagogical Benefits of the Mainstreaming the Common Values via Creative Drama”.

“How can we use creative drama in teaching the common values?”

The second day of the Conference continued with study groups through which participants could contribute actively. At the four parallel study groups, it was focused on democracy, equality, social inclusion and human rights. Groups worked on the contents of these common values and on how to convey them by using creative drama techniques. Moderations of these study groups were made by Assoc. Prof. Zafer Çelik, Department of Sociology, Yıldırım Beyazıt University; Assoc. Prof. Burcu Sümer and Asst. Prof. Oğuzhan Taş, Faculty of Communication, Ankara University; and Asst. Prof Erhan Akdemir, Deputy Manager of EU Research Centre, Anadolu University. At the final panel where outcomes of study groups were discussed, along with the moderators, also Prof. Tülin Sağlam and psychological counsellor and creative expert Yılmaz Erdal took part in discussions. Moderation of the final panel was made by Assoc. Prof. Erdem Denk, Deputy Manager of ATAUM, Ankara University. Closure speech of the conference was given by MoNE Deputy Undersecretary Ercan Demirci.

“We desire continuation of these kinds of works”

Demirci said: “Conference is ended with worthy contributions. I hope those outcomes like both projects and activities are carried on and brought to life. In line with our State’s 50 years of inclination, we give importance also to inclination towards the EU and keep the flame alive. This work is a full stop of a sentence, and I wish the result brought by this sentence will take us to the writing of the paragraph, the page, the book.”

Representatives and General Directors from 81 Provincial Directorates of National Education, Ministry staff, and representatives from related institutions attended the conference that was held in Ankara Limak Ambassador Hotel.

With its long name, Technical Assistance for Students Learning about the EU Common Values, Fundamental Rights and Policies, is a project that is implemented between December 2014 and December 2016 with a budget of 3 million and 256 thousand Euro consisting of many activities, among these the most important ones being quiz, painting, slogan, and short-story competitions, to create awareness about the EU.

Awards of painting, slogan, short-story, and quiz competitions of Students Learning about the EU Project, which is supervised by Ministry of National Education, are given in Ankara. On 26^th of May, Thursday, an award ceremony took place in Council Hall of MoNE and secondary school students, their teachers, principals, provincial directors, and MoNE staff from all corners of Turkey attended it. Along with Deputy Minister of National Education and high level officials of the Ministry, Deputy Head of Delegation of European Union to Turkey, Béla Szombati, and Acting Head of Central Finance and Contracts Units, Emine Döğer, also participated in the ceremony. The ceremony ended with opening of the exhibition where winners of painting, slogan, and short-story competitions were exhibited.

Presenter of the ceremony was Tolga Gariboğlu and opening speech was given by General Director of EU and Foreign Relations, MoNE, Funda Kocabıyık, as the host. Kocabıyık expressed that students have impressed them with their knowledge and said “This year, there was much interest in painting, slogan, and short-story competitions which we conducted within scope of our project. Our jury had a tough time in choosing the winners of competitions. All of the submitted works are precious to us. Your enthusiasm encourages us to do better things.”

Deputy Minister of National Education, Orhan Erdem, emphasized on acceptance of EU values in Turkey and expressed that education came foremost among these. “When we reach a certain level in education, we also attain a better place in human rights, health, and justice and can understand each other” he said. “As Turkish people, we have positive attributes compared to EU countries as well as a lack in order and planning” Erdem reminded audience and went on by saying “We don’t have any problems with regard to human rights. Our generation has given up hope on EU membership, no country can be patient for 55 years.”

“A person is enemy of whom he doesn’t know”

Erdem expressed that they give utmost importance to participation of students to the competitions and said “We know that having top places is important but symbolic. Because our children who participated in these competitions and wrote, painted, and found slogans will become writers, artists, managers who have confidence in themselves in the future.” Erdem mentioned that number of students in Turkey is more than total population of many countries in the EU and with this project, a huge part of population is reached with regard to presentation of the EU. Erdem reminded audience the saying attributed to his holiness Ali “A person is enemy of whom he doesn’t know” and stated that those students who have a higher awareness on EU will better express our country to the EU.

Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union to Turkey, Béla Szombati, on the other hand, emphasized on the fact that not only the ranking students but anybody who participated in competitions were all winners. “Students impressed all of us with the works they created for competitions. We believe so, artists and writers of future is in this hall right now” he said and went on saying “as those who participate in these activities also know, EU is not a perfect organization, however, despite all its flaws, it’s one the most beautiful ideas that is created by humans in terms of democracy and human rights. 15 years ago I hoped my country would join the EU. Now, I hope the same thing for your country.” He expressed that because of these competitions, many young people has gained a deeper knowledge of the EU and said “Within this framework they gained crucial knowledge on EU’s fundamental values like peace, equality, freedom, human rights, security, unity, cooperation and its fundamental principles, EU-Turkey relations, cooperation, and Turkey’s efforts with regard to accession.”

Acting Head of project’s contracting authority Central Finance and Contracts Units, Emine Döğer, also informed the audience on project’s process. After presentation of awards and opening of the exhibition, ceremony ended.

Award of the competition is a 5 day study visit to an EU country

National Finals of Students Learning about the EU Project “I’m Learning the EU” Quiz Competition took place on 25th of May 2016 in Council Hall of MoNE. The winners of “I’m Learning the EU” quiz competition and “Tell Me about the EU” painting, slogan,  and short-story competitions that took the first three places in each category, a total of 21 students, earned study 5 day long visit to an EU country. “Technical Assistance for Students Learning about the EU Common Values, Fundamental Rights and Policies” Project involves many activities as well as quiz, painting, slogan, and short-story competitions in order to increase awareness on the EU among students and public. It has a budget of 3 million 256 thousand Euro and will last between December 2014 and December 2016.

Below you can see the winners in four categories:

SLOGAN

1. The first place of slogan competition is taken by Tuğba Edaş from Ankara Üçer Middle School with her slogan “Let Turkey Add Rhythm to the Composition Called EU”.
2. The second place of slogan competition is taken by Aslı Bingöl from Antalya Melahat Faraçlar Middle School with her slogan “Different Cultures, Stronger Together”.
3. The third place of slogan competition is taken by Fatih Aksoy from Burdur Centre of Science and Arts with his slogan “Cooperation, Unity of Power, European Union”.

PAINTING

1. Salime Çiçek from Iğdır Tacirli Middle School has the first place for painting competition.
2. Mahmut Korkmaz from Şanlıurfa Mehmet Saçlı Middle School has the first place for painting competition.
3. Nagihan Gümüş from Burdur Mehmetçik Middle School has the first place for painting competition.

SHORT-STORY

1. The first place is taken by Nevzer Karaman from İzmir Dr. Güngör Özbek Anatolian High School with her short-story titled “An Englishman in Aladağ”
2. The second place is taken by Ayşe Akyol from Trabzon Tevfik Serdar Anatolian High School with her short-story titled “Journey to Hope”
3. The third place is taken by Oğuzhan Kartal from Manisa High School of Social Sciences with his short-story titled “Balloons of the Lost City”

QUIZ COMPETITION

1. VAN

İPEKYOLU İMKB SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

Muhammed Gültekin

Zehra Yaman

Ferhat Teke

Birhat Turğut

2. ŞANLIURFA

SURUÇ HIGH SCHOOL

Hasan Ali GÖÇÜK

Muhammed Emin KÜÇÜK

Emine KAPLAN

Mehmet Fatih ÇEBEL 

3. EDİRNE

KEŞAN HIGH SCHOOL

Kutay Cem Özel

Emre Gündüz

Hanife İrem Engin

Hasancan Sınalı

Project’s Social Media Accounts: 

https://www.facebook.com/AByiOgren/

https://twitter.com/abyiogren

https://www.instagram.com/abyiogren/

National Finals of Students Learning about the EU Project “I’m Learning the EU” Quiz Competition took place on 25th of May 2016 in Council Hall of MoNE. Winners of 21 provinces competed each other to become the national winner. Both competing teams and their coaching teachers went through thrilling hours during the quiz competition.

Opening speech of the competition, which was presented by Tolga Gariboğlu, was given by Head of Department of EU and Projects Coordination, General Directorate of EU and Foreign Relations of Ministry of National Education, Zeynep Öçgüder. After speech of Öçgüder, 7 teams that was going to compete at the first session were selected with a draw.

7 teams competed at the first session were; Mersin 75^th Anniversary Science High School, Sivas Halis Gülle Anataolian High School, Adana Turkish Textile Foundation Vocational and Technical Education Centre, Samsun Bafra Science High School, and Şanlıurfa Suruç Science High School. Winner of the first group was Şanlıurfa Suruç Science High School.

At the second session of the competition, teams from Kocaeli Gebze Anatolian High School, Denizli Aydem Science High School, Antalya Ünal Aysal Anatolian High School, Eskişehir Sarıcakaya Religious Vocational Anatolian High School, Erzurum İspir Anatolian High School, İzmir Bornova Anatolian High School, Edirne Keşan Science High School competed against each other. Winner of this session was Edirne Keşan Science High School.

At the third leg of the competition, Bursa Zeki Konukoğlu Anatolian High School, Diyarbakır Yunus Emre Religious Vocational Anatolian High School, Kayseri Sami Yangın Anatolian High School, Konya Meram Science High School, Van İpekyolu İMKB Science High School, İstanbul Galatasaray High School, Ankara Betül Can Anatolian High School teams competed. Winner of the third leg was Van İpekyolu İMKB Science High School.

At the end of the final at which winners of the three sessions competed against each other, national winners were announced. These are:

1. Van İpekyolu İMKB Science High School:

* Muhammed Gültekin

* Zehra Yaman

* Ferhat Teke

* Birhat Turğut

2. Şanlıurfa Suruç Science High School:

* Emine Kaplan

* Hasan Ali Göçük

* Mehmet Fatih Çebel

* Muhammed Emin Küçük

3. Edirne Keşan Science High School:

* Hanife İrem Engin

* Kutay Cem Özel

* Emre Gündüz

* Hasancan Sınalı

Award of the competition is 5 day study trip to an EU country

Memebers of the three winner teams, a total of 12 students, have won 5 day long study trip to an EU country.

2015 catalogue “For Me the EU…” of Students Learning about the EU Project painting, short-story and quiz competitions is published.

Catalogue opens with foreword of General Director of EU and Foreign Relations, Funda Kocabıyık. Winning works of 2015 painting, slogan and short-story competitions are shown in it. It also includes names and photographs of provincial winners of “I’m Learning the EU” Quiz Competition.

Click here to take a look at the Catalogue.

Research Report of Students Learning about the Project is published.

This survey is conducted in order to evaluate awareness and knowledge levels of students about European Union (EU), EU values and policies, and familiarity with EU institutions.

Survey was conducted simultaneously at 291 schools (middle and high schools) chosen in 21 provinces where EU Information Centres exist (Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Mersin, Samsun, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon, Van) between 27 April and 18 May 2015 with participation of 30,000 students.

To read Project Research Report, please click.

Opening speech of the award ceremony was given by Ziya Yediyıldız, Director of General Directorate of EU and Foreign Relations, Ministry of National Education. From all around Turkey, middle and high school students, teachers, school principals, representatives from Provincial National Education Directorates, central staff of MoNE, and other public institutions’ representatives attended the ceremony.

Deputy Undersecretaries of Ministry of National Education, Counsellor François Begeot from Delegation of the European Union to Turkey also attended the ceremony along with representatives from Ministry for European Union Affairs and Central Finance and Contracts Unit.

At his speech, General Director Ziya Yediyıldız mentioned that awareness of children about universal world values will increase with Students Learning about the EU Project and Turkey’s values and culture will pour into world thorough the EU doors. He continued saying that:

“During the integration process of our country in to the European Union, a youth knowledgeable on social transformation and global economic competition, and blended with universal world values will strengthen both our country and the European Union that we want to join and will open a way from mind to mind, and heart to heart. In this line, with the Students Learning about the EU Project, our children’s awareness about universal world values and tat the same time they will be the medium in pouring our values and culture in to the World through the EU door”.

Presenter of the Award Ceremony of Students Learning about the EU Project was Tolga Gariboğlu. Deputy Undersecretary Ahmet Emre Bilgili from MoNE told that he was very impressed especially with some slogans and he expressed that “Make Room for One Star!!…” slogan is very meaningful with regard to Turkey-EU relations.

Counsellor François Begeot from Delegation of the European Union to Turkey emphasized on the importance of the competitions in providing a deep knowledge on EU common values like peace, equality, freedom, unity, and solidarity and on EU-Turkey relations. He said that “I believe, some of the young artists and writers in this hall will be prominent painters and writers of our common Europe in the future.”

After the opening speeches, national winners of the competitions were announced and their awards were presented to them. The program ended with exhibition of winning works from all provinces.

Names of students who are national winners in each category are given below:

SLOGAN COMPETITION

1. Neslihan Küçük from Kırşehir Cacabey Middle School with her slogan “Reconcile, Unite, Liberalize”.
2. Davut Güler from Gümüşhane Gazipaşa Middle School with his slogan “United Europe; For the Sake of Democracy, Equality and Humanity”.
3. Selinay Belen from Ordu Osman Özyurt Middle School with her slogan “A Different Flower in Every Garden Europe will Flourish with Turkey”.

PAINTING COMPETITION

1. The first place is, Esra YATKIN from Denizli Ekrem Başer Middle School.
2. The second place is, Hamza BALIBEY from Elazığ Aziz Gül Middle School.
3. The third place is, Sude CANTÜRK from Zonguldak Mimar Sinan Middle School.

SHORT-STORY COMPETITION

1. The first place is, Kamil KAYA from Gaziantep Mehmet Nurettin Horoz Logistics Vocational Anatolian High School with his story “Hallo Grandpaaa!”.
2. The second place is, Onur Alper YILMAZ from Hatay TED Hatay Collage with his story “The Kid with Endless Candy”.
3. The third place is, Şeyda Sıla KARA from Konya Meram Science High School with her story “The Time; It was Red, Furious and Much Blue”.

QUIZ COMPETITION

1. The first place is: Ankara Etimesgut Anatolian High School

Senanur Şahin

Yasin Arıkan

Büşra Karakökçek

Gizem Çal

2. The second place is: Eskişehir TED Collage Private Anatolian High School

Çağla Su Keşan

Cansu Fidan

Mustafa Mercan

Yunus Emre Salı

3. The third place is: Antalya Ünal Aysal Anatolian High School

Dilara Ak

Devrim Büyükşahin

Can Çelik

Merve Karakaş