“All the News

That‘s Fit to Print“

No 1 Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010 Free copy

Photo: Enjoying with Aile‘s.

Young People of the World

are meeting in Istanbul CONGRESS POEM

for Global Development MERHABA ISTANBUL !

We are finally here!

ISTANBUL, 31 JULY-13 AUGUST, 2010 From over a hundred countries,
Selected were a few entries,
The best and brightest,
THE 5TH WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS, ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT YOUTH
From lands farthest,
MEETINGS OF ITS KIND, IS TAKING PLACE IN ISTANBUL- THE EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CUL-
And its finally begun,
TURE - FROM JULY 31 UNTIL AUGUST 13. ORGANIZED BY TURKEY‘S MINISTRY OF STATE,
A congregation of youth,
BRITISH CHARITY PEACE CHILD INTERNATIONAL AND THE TURKISH E-GENÇLIK NGO, IT IS
A celebration of truth!
TAKING PLACE AT THE YILDIZ TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY DAVUT PAŞA CAMPUS.
Where Earth Water and Fire,
By Maria Kuchma
Combine together with our desire,
For change, courage and hope,
The United Nations declared people from Turkiye - develop- by United Games International. There’s no stopping us now,
the Congress, the first event of ment and youth specialists, jour- There’s no going back,
the International Year of Youth, nalists, educators, and artists.The The congress‘s main sponsor is We’re going to push ahead,
one of the most important youth Congress‘s aim is to teach youth the European Capital of Culture Towards the dreams of a thousand hearts,
activities in the world. how to create the most sustaina- Istanbul 2010 Agency. This is just the start,
ble youth strategies possible in So wait and watch,
The Congress has previously our ever-changing world. The congress, whose main Its time for action and progress,
been held in Hawaii, Morocco, topic is collective work (Turkish At the 5th World Youth Congress !
Scotland, and Canada. This time, The Congress is available on-line „imece“), is going to highlight
it brings together about 1000 for young people who have no topics such as solidarity, youth By Astik Sinha
young people from a total of 147 opportunity to come to Istanbul. employment, leadership, com-
countries and some 400 young The vertual version is supported munication, and human rights.
2 No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010

5th World Youth Congress

opens for joint action
THE FESTIVAL AREA OF THE YILDIZ TEKNIK UNIVERSITY IN ISTANBUL GOT FILLED QUICKLY. ACTIVISTS, JOURNALISTS, ENTREPRE-
NEURS, EDUCATORS AND ARTISTS HAVE COME TOGETHER TO PERHAPS ONE OF THE WORLD´S BIGGEST GATHERING OF YOUTH. OVER
1,000 YOUNG PEOPLE FROM MORE THAN 150 COUNTRIES HAVE JOINED HANDS TO CELEBRATE THE 5TH WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS IN
ISTANBUL, WHICH IS PROUD TO HOST SO MANY DREAMERS WHO PLAN TO BRING A CHANGE IN THE WORLD.

„WE CAN NOT GIVE OUR YOUTH A FUTURE BUT WE CAN GIVE FUTURE OUR YOUTH,“
MINISTER ÖZAK QUOTED AMERICAN PRESIDENT THEODOR ROOSEVELT IN HIS SPEECH.

The event started with the Hawaiian
delegation who sang a Folkloric song.
Boys and girls dressed in the native
Hawaiin outfits greeted the audience.
The beautiful performance was follo-
wed by Kemal Uysal’s welcome note
who is the President of the e-Genclik
Association. Starting with the histori-
cal background of the World Youth
Congress, he told about his dream of
organising this congress in Istanbul
one day. He said that the aim of the
congress is to connect people from
every country, religion and language
on one plattform to help achieve the
2015 Millenium Development Goals.
He was grateful to all sponsors who
helped make this event possible.
Further, he thanked the Turkish
government for its generous support
in this cause.
Faruk Nafiz Özak,the Turkish Minister
of Youth,emphasised the importance
of youth participation and the role
they can play in making this world
a better place. He ended his speech
quoting American President Theodor
Roosevelt: „We can not give our youth
a future but we can give future our
youth.“
Local government officials including
the mayor of Esenler, the district
where the Yildiz Teknik University is
located, also spoke to the audience
telling about the historical and politi-
cal importance of Turkey where seve-
No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010
ral different cultures have coexisted
peacefully for centuries and where
east meets west.They expressed their
confidence that the young people
coming together here in Istanbul
will make a positive change in their
respective countries.
The speeches were followed by
various beautiful folkloric Turkish
dance performances showing the
rich culture of Turkey which were
well received by the audience.
The event continued by a short
speech of David Woollcombe, Pre-
sident of Peace Child International,
who congratulated the participants
for making it this far and expressed
his hope in them in making a change.
3
IMPRINT
Facilitators:
Dumitru Iovu, Moldova
Emre Caliskan, Turkey
Müğtan Sağlam, Turkey
Photos by:
Andrei Ioniţă, România
Anna Morawiec, Poland
Layout:
Dumitru Iovu, Moldova
For more articles and media go to:
www.virtualwyc.net
All articles do not necessarily repre-
sent the opinions of the magazine.
THE BIG DEAL
REPORTERS
WANTED
Are you a journalist
or just a participant?
Do you have a voice?
Do you have a story to tell?
Or you just want to say
how you feel to everyone?
If Yes, then become our
SPECIAL REPORTER
Send your materials to:
wyc2010@youthpress.org
or
bring your materials to:
Media Center
Room D-215,
All in all, the opening ceremony was house C on the map
an exciting start to 5th World Youth
Congress. It raised high hopes in the
participants to word fort the right
cause and join hands in making this Plese make sure your articles
are signed with your
world a better place as reflected Name, Surname and Country
in the congress’ theme, imece, the
and we will make sure
Turkish word for joint collaboration. to find space for them in
The Congress Times
Abid Iqbal and Gülseren Ölcüm
4 No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010

Ayran and his members.

The First Aile Meeting

and Ice Breaking Time
THE WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS 2010 HAD THE FIRST „AILE“ MEETING YESTERDAY (1/8). PEOPLE GATHERED AROUND THE
„YEMEKHANE“ BUILDING AT 09.00 A.M TO START MARCHING TOWARDS THE FIELD NEAR TO THE ÇADIRLAR (TENTS AREA) TO
START THE ICE BREAKING EXERCISE.

Two days ago (31/7),the aile leaders
collected their family members with
boards or just calling out the group
names. After the members were
present, the aile leaders had various
kinds of introductions so that they
can get to know each other really
well. The next agenda was to have
the ice breakers by playing ‚‘big fat
pony‘‘ together in a long snaky line.
However, not all participants knew
how to play that game. People who
are in the front, enjoyed the game.
But starting from the middle until the
back of the line, most of participants
were just walking. Until then they
forgot about the game and spread
from the line. Finally, the leaders had
to collect the members once again to
give instructions, including regional
meetings and exhibition.
‘‘EVERYBODY IS HAPPY‘‘
Tho Chung Nguyen one of WYC 2010
participants from Vietnam said that it
was a good time at the moment. ‚‘The
aile meeting and the ice breaking
could make the participants get to
know each other better,‘‘ said this
Young Activist. Also, Chung thought
those kinds of activities could make
the participants build conversation
and communicate more effectively.
He personally felt that by doing
those activities, he could feel the
sense of „imece“ introduced by WYC
2010. Besides, he had more energy
because of them.
In the other sıde, Ayran, one of the
aile leader, said that he found a
good result from the meeting. He
was surprised when he found out his
members made a good introduction
to each other by playing ‚‘passing-
the-names‘‘ game before he started.
They also walked so that they could
talk instead of taking the buses from
the dorm to the ice breaking area.
‚‘Everybody is happy,‘‘ he said.
Febı Purnamasarı
No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010
Calling participants.
Ice breaking.
Calling participants.
Can Arab Youth
Make a Change?
THIS IS THE QUESTION THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE
FIRST MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL MEETING WERE
ASKED ON SUNDAY.
A DEFINITE „NO“ WHIPPED OUT BY SOMEONE WAS
THE ANSWER. THE OTHERS WERE SILENT, AND
THEN A FEW CLAPS FOLLOWED, MEANING „YES.“
Ilhami Khaled from Lebanon was
one of those who applauded.
„I think we can make a change in
our small communities. Everybody
should ask himself: what I perso-
nally can do for my family, for my
community?“ he said.
No one appeared to argue.
However, the talks saw infighting
between Arabic-speakers and those
who do not understand Arabic over
the language to be used during the
meeting.Although being a minority,
the latter struggled hard to be
involved in discussions. After an
hour-long word battle, the meeting
went on in both languages, with
people not understanding each
other at times.
„I was really shocked because
I thought people would be tal-
king all together... but they were
just criticizing each other,“ said
Wojoud Mejalli, a freelance jour-
nalist from Yemen. „It was really
unpleasant,and it drove me to walk
out of the meeting.“
Six topics approved for future
discussions in a democratic vote
were the only result of the talks.
The delegates selected educa-
tion and empowerment of youth
and women in the Middle East as
the two most important topics to
be discussed. Environment, youth
immigration, nationalism, and
human rights were the other four.
Wojoud agrees with those putting
the education issue on the top
of the agenda. But human rights
should come second, she argues.
5
Then - youth immigration.
„There are two types of youth
immigration in the Middle East - the
one is related to people moving
from rural areas to cities and ano-
ther to those moving abroad. A lot
of talented people I know in my
country travel abroad and do not
return home,“ Wojoud said.
She said if she had a chance to
go abroad, she would rather not
do that.
„I know I can get my education in
my county. But other people take
the easier way and just go - and
never come back.“
Security and poverty,which Western
people view as major issues of
concern in the Middle East, have
been banned from discussions.
Only a few people voted for them
to be addressed.
„So, they don‘t want to talk about
terrorism?“ Wojoud wonders. „It‘s a
stereotype? Ok! We need to discuss
it, it‘s not a thing to be ashamed of!
Ask them - don‘t you get double
check at the airport?“
She called on her congress mates
to be less concerned with their
national pride and see things
as they are in order to improve
the situation, because „admitting
the problem is the first and the
most  important step towards  a
solution.“
Maria Kuchma
6 No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010

The warm meeting of the

thoughts about traditions
ON THE DAY OF THE ARRIVAL OUR HOST COUNTRY ENTERTAINED US MUCH WITH THE NATIONAL EVENING PARTY. EVERYBODY SURELY
WAS HAPPY TO GET SUCH A GREAT REST BOTH FOR THE SOUL AND FOR THE BODY.

Participants of the Congress were

shown traditional music and dances,
modern dancing performance in
Turkish style, as well as fed with a
traditional sweet Ashe. Video pre-
sentations gave a very romantic
and a bit Hollywood-style image of
Istanbul and Turkey on the whole.
Something exceptional was felt in sit-
ting straight on the asphalt under the
stage, eating crackers and drinking
lemonade with the several friends,
all from different countries, which
you manage to find in the fist day’s
fuss. All the organizational problems
were forgotten,and even the absence
of the key and roommate who owned
it - nothing could make you nervous
when inflammatory dances poured
down from the stage into the crowd
of happy people, who danced not so
skillfully, but willingly.

It is usually said in Russian,better one

time to see than hundred times to
hear about.And the article which just
makes those who were not present
“hear about”would not have the right
to exist. As a journalist specialized
on the topic of traditional culture in
the modern world I could not help
thinking and analyzing everything I
saw and heard last night. Firstly, the
traditional Anatolian dances were
shown without misrepresentation
(as I can judge) - I mean, everything
was done in a right, proper way. The
music for dances was played solo on
traditional kemençe,the clothes were
not just invented for the performance
and - the main thing - the people on
the stage did not showing as if they
were dancing - they were really com-
municating with each other in dance.
To understand what I’m talking
about you should know, that cultural
policy of Soviet period in Russia
tried to erase difference between a
great amount of Russian regional
traditions and make some “real art
of masses” out of everyday life. Due
to this, everything we have on the big
stage is a kind of distorting mirror
of tradition. Everybody is ashamed
of it and nearly nobody knows that
this can’t be named real Russian
tradition. The only hope is the youth
movement for the rediscovery of folk
heritage, that now exists and grows,
mostly in Moscow, St. Petersburg,
Novosibirsk,Vologda.
As I see, Turkish young people don’t
need to rediscover anything. Of
No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010
course, not many of them know
exact movements of the compli-
cated time-tasted dances. But they
can surely discern the difference
between authentic and fake. I saw
them dancing - moving in a kind of
traditional manner, standing not one
by one but in the circle and going
on the average to dance in front of
others and communicate through
dancing. I really liked it.
7
The other day I wanted to talk to seve-
ral Turkish young men and women in
order to know whether my conclusion
is right or not. But when I came to the
Aile meeting in the morning - my group
name is Yali Çapkini by the way - and
it was the Turkish girl Caglayan who
proposed that we should show each
others national dances. That seemed
enough to me to be ensured in my
opinion and share it with all of you.
Irina Shuvalova
8 No 1, Istanbul, Monday, August 1, 2010

Mini ambitious,
big countries!
EXHIBITION DAY!

Once you come into the doors of

the exhibition, your eyes will be
caught by a (wii platform) , and you
will unconsciously give this game a
try! It‘s a winter game in which you
stand on the platform and act along
with the screen that is shown in front
of you. „Turkey will host the World
Winter international Universiade
in 2011“, Umut Gurer said, Event
Management and licensing specia-
list. The program will host over a
100 guests all of them whom are the
leading names in the tourism sector.
“This program will mainly offer
various winter games and around 52
countries have already registered so
far. The place will take place in the
27th of January up the 6th of Febru-
ary in Erzurum,Turkey“ Gurer added.
While walking ,you also hear the
sound of „Ameklung“, trying to find
out its secret,  while enjoying the
spicy taste of ginger candies. You
can climb the stunning mountains will fit you in this ancient picture.
in Papua, dive in  Maluku and go The only word that you should
on a relaxing shopping session in scream out while you‘re in Mexico is
Jakarta. Just looking around you „Arriba.“ 
realize that you are  surrounded by
an unbreakable  unity in diversity. Another activity that was interesting
Being mesmerized by the beauty in the exhibition was the Adiya-
of the country, you don‘t  mind the man University call for participants
geographical coordinates, forgetting to write down what they think of
that Bali Island is in Indonesia.  poverty. Selin Akbary a family leader
Passion is the first word you would and the coordinator said „ the idea
choose to describe a countr y, is simply to motivate youth to more
once you saw the little chlorites, understand about poverty from their
the  symbol of love, union and pro- own perspective and what they can
gress. You will be challenged to use do to eliminate it“. Akbary added: „
your imagination in order to find  all of the photos at the exhibition
creative ways to utilize your jewelry are taken in a small city in Turkey so
to wash clothes or dance. You will it simply represents poverty in the
find out that  Belarus  isn‘t the  only country and how youth are working
one country famous for being called toward helping in solving it.To more
potato land. Welcome to Peru! understand about poverty we have
a workshop on the 4th of August
You will feel yourself the master of within the workshops activities“. she
Time when you will experience the finally added.
mysteries of Maya and Aztec  civili- Exhibition day was truly a master of
zation expressed in ritual dances. mini minds , big ambitious!
Colorful sombreros and ponchos will
Wojoud Mejalli, Virginia Dumitras
be the only national costume which and Diana Ionita