THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD WAS IN TURKEY FOR MODEL EUROPEAN UNION MEETING
Modal European Union Meeting took place with the participation of the students in American University of Bulgaria, Buffalo State College, Drake University, Cortland Fredonia, New Paltz, and University at Buffalo from America, Manchester Metropolitan University from England, Pultusk School of Humanities from Poland, “Tibiscus” University of Timisoara from Romania and Babeş-Bolyai University. At the conference, the role of Greece was played by Izmir University of Economics Department of International Relations and European Union students Ece Çam, Deniz Özbek, Ayşenur Ölmezses, Melis Baş and Mustafa Danacı.
The director of the model Assoc. Prof. Kathleen M. Dowley from SUNY New Paltz University mentioned the importance of the Model European Union meeting being held in Turkey and said, “Thanks to the European Union simulation, the students will learn the debate subjects at the European Union with the experiences they will gain.” President of SUNY European Studies Institute Council Henry Steck said that the students had the chance to apply what they had learned in the simulations in Model European Union conferences that they organized since 1988.
In the second day of the meetings, Prof. Neill Nugent from Manchester Metropolitan University made a presentation entitled “The Results of Turkey’s Full Membership”. Nugent mentioned about the weak and deficient parts of Turkish economy and said, “In spite of its economical weakness, Turkey is not in a worse condition than Bulgaria or Romania which have full membership. Turkey’s contributions to EU in terms of military and security, and its geopolitical value that increases due to its closeness to Middle East cannot be denied. Turkey’s membership deliberations may continue until 2014. Even though the process is long, the countries like Cyprus and Greece, which are against Turkey’s full membership have positive attitudes for now. However, it should not be forgotten that Cyprus conflict is a major subject in the arguments about Turkey’s membership.”
The students of the participant universities played the roles of the Heads of States, Ministers of Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Committee of Permanent Representatives and Head of Commission that will take place in European Council Summit in June 2008. The students learned how the organs of EU work and how the dynamics among the politicians function, and they witnessed the methods of using diplomatic and legal approaches in foreign affairs.
