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Editorial Dear delegates After yesterday’s teambuilding, it is time to get on with the formal part of the session. To accompany you, however, the journos will continue to provide you with entertaining and informative articles. In this issue, for example, you can read about the five (!) different genders and a history of our host city’s name. Have a great time! —Harm
Editor Harm van Leeuwen (NL) Video editor Louise van Benschop (NL) Journalists Clémence Rérolle (FR) Ege Yücel (TR) Eirini Daliani (GR) Genco Çakır (TR) Gülşah Özdemir (TR) Konstantinos Andronikidis (GR) Levent Aslan (TR) Martha Saunders (UK) Nina Selmer (NO) Yaprak Yıldırım (TR) 2
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Contents Editorial 2 Contents 3 The prejudice game 4 EYP’s magic box 6 Resist! 8 House rules 10 Konstantinoupolis, seriously? 12 Gender bender 14 Which of the five genders are you? 15
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The prejudice game BEING prejudiced is an everyday routine for all. Every new encounter generates preconceived opinions, which are determined by our first impressions. In that context, Merve (LIBE I) and Yamaç (ITRE) volunteered to share their own prejudices about each other. Let the game begin! by Clémence Rérolle (FR)
Merve about Yamaç Listens to pop, R&B, electro-dance
Favourite holiday: snow sport
Sports: gym workout and basketball
Going to live in the US when older
Apolitical
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hen examined more closely, both portrays seem to embody a certain stereotype: Yamaç, the sociable American athlete and party lover, and Merve, the easy-going and humane socialist. According to Merve, “prejudices are not good because they never reveal the other person’s true personality”. In other words, prejudices are not reliable: at best, they are subjective assumptions; at worse, biased
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value judgements. Unsurprisingly, the only way to actually know a person is to meet him or her, rather than rely solely on preconceived ideas. In that case, why play the prejudice game if prejudices should be ruled out? This game in fact enhances our awareness: acknowledging our tendency towards prejudice is necessary to understand who we are. “I could not imagine a world without prejudices,” confesses organ-
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Listens to house music
Socially liberal
Yamaç about Merve Favourite holiday: Hawaii
Plays tennis and volleyball Going to live in France
iser Berk (TR). Most importantly though, games and prejudices merge together. Games are educational: they focus our minds on a set of rules and guide us along a given structure. Similarly, prejudices create a framework for society as they allow us to position ourselves socially. Delegates of the 14th National Selection Conference, you have now lived the first session’s day: Teambuilding day. As teambuilding revolved around games,
it has also led you to think beyond prejudices. In the end, was this day not an extended version of the prejudice game? •
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EYP’s magic box UNFORGETTABLE experiences come from high expectations. So, do the delegates have high enough expectations to make the session remarkable? We asked both delegates and chairs about their expectations and experiences. Welcome to the comparison between the elderly ones’ memories and the newcomers’ hopes towards future... by Ege Yücel (TR) and Eirini Daliani (GR)
Expectations Liora (CULT): “I want to learn a lot from other people, and I want to broaden my horizon.”
Ilgın (AFET): “I am here to experience a unique session.” Murat (CULT): “I’m here to change the world, (baby).”
Yamaç (ITRE): “I am here because my teachers told me to do so.”
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Can (ECON): “I am here to have some fun, but basically, I am very into foreign languages and I believe that EYP will help my career.”
Egemen (ECON): “I am here to make new friends, and of course, to go to the International Session!”
Erencan (ITRE): “I expect to see academic and friendly environment where everyone can express their opinion.”
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e would define EYP know what to expect, you a sweet taste. difference, promotes partnership from all over Europe. In the becrowd full of strangers. They are fore, but these strangers end up bethe session. You always leave with a conference successful…to make its and indelible moments on mind are so intense and they are pictured Every single person is a surprise of make EYP’s recipe successful and tried it yet. It must be highlightthat you can create the moments session unique and spread every-
Ilgaz (LIBE II): “I just came here to have fun and make new friends.”
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Experiences Waltter (SEDE, FI): “A few years ago, I was in a forum in Antwerp. We got into the lift inside the hostel we were staying in and suddenly other people started coming in as well. We tried to go up with 11 people in a 6 people lift. We got stuck for some time before the janitor saved us.”
as a box full of surprises. You never but it always has its manner to give EYP bridges cultures, embraces and dialogue among young people ginning you are just standing in a just people you have not met being friends of a lifetime as you leave wide smile and this is what makes a participants to have a wide smile and especially in heart. The feelings on the face of every participant. EYP’s magic box and all together tempting for those who haven’t ed that you delegates are the ones you want to experience. Make this where the EYP’s magic!
Marianna (Vice-president, ECON, GR) and Despina (FEMM, GR): “We shared the best moment of our EYP experience last year in the end of the closing ceremony of a National Selection Conference, like this one! We delivered a speech together: it was such an emotional moment. At the end the delegates started clapping and shouting: it was definitely the best part.”
Batuhan (EMPL, TR): “At my first session, at the nationals, I got the chance to make an attack speech on a resolution. In the end, I addressed the resolution saying ‘You shall not pass!’ and it failed. It was very funny.”
Franziska (President, DE): “I was at the International Session in Helsinki. We were at a hotel without staff. As an evening snack, the organizers got sponsored bananas. There were boxes and boxes of bananas standing in the hallway and no staff whatsoever. So people were constantly having banana fights.”
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Resist!
THE LEGENDARY movement that made everyone cry in May, has taught us the ones whose freedom we didn’t even care about once, might struggle for our freedom. So delegates, resist! by Gülşah Özdemir (TR)
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or last 5 months, we have been talking about the same thing again and again, Gezi Parkı. Since it is the first National Selection Conference of EYP Turkey after the protests, I found it quite important to approach this subject from a different standpoint, which might help us to see things more clearly. So I asked foreign journalists to evaluate the protests for us and asked a delegate about the role of LGBT during the protests. Nina Selmer (NO): Since Norway is one of the most liberal countries in Europe, Norwegian media was on the protester’s side, because the government was restricting freedom of speech, freedom of press etc. I don’t think European media is tendentious as your president asserted, just all Europe cares is democracy, so they focused more on people instead of the president himself. Clemence Rerolle (FR): I believe that the protest was honourable. When a country does not represent their citizens and the ideas of the citizens, it is the most normal thing to protest. International media wouldn’t criticize the people who fight for democracy because
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they believe in democratic values. But still, the social network was much more useful than the international media. I admire the courage of people at my age. Even though it was risky for them to attend because of the tear gas and water cannons, they didn’t hesitate to fight for their rights. Ece Çakır (LIBE 1): What I think about Gezi Occupation and its relation with LGBT people is that the protest was the place for the members of LGBT to show themselves and try to take attention of people and it was actually the right place for that. They got closer to get their rights. LGBT people played a big role in the protest, because they are the ones whose rights are most violated. Although the atmosphere during the protest was quite respectful, it didn’t really change the people’s view about LGBT members. However it started to change things and made people more moderate. After all, people has begun to empathize with each other, at least respect each other. The society understood what LGBT members have been facing for years. They all fought for the same thing in Taksim, freedom. Everyone was equal there, everyone was just human. There was no difference between female, male, homosexual, religious, atheist, Turkish or Kurdish. Those words were just adjectives, not a definition of a person. •
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House rules ALTHOUGH the dangers are of young men and women living together “unsupervised” are not quite clear to us, the advantages are obvious. Below, we take a look at the benefits each gender can get from co-habiting with the other.
by Martha Saunders (UK) and Genco Cakir (TR)
Living with girls
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oving in with a woman might be disappointing at first. Contrary to popular fantasies, we don’t have lingerie-clad pillow fights with our girl-friends or do bizarrely seductive yoga positions on the carpet for your viewing pleasure. However, there are still plenty of benefits. Firstly, whilst in a house of guys your hygiene is likely to become so bad that all of your belongings develop their own eco-systems, access to the multi-billion dollar female beauty industry will have you feeling like a god. Your eyebrows will be carefully plucked for maximum smouldering potential, your skin will be super silky smooth and your entire body will smell inexplicably of some exotic Morroccan fruit you’ve never heard of. In short, you will be a total catch. Another great thing about living with girls is that we
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are a lot more accepting of you indulging your guilty pleasures or showing feelings. You can get emotional during films, sing Beyonce in the shower, even have a little cry about your ex girlfriend and while the “lads” would probably laugh and film your activities for Facebook, girls will either join in your song or bring you a nice tub of chocolate ice-cream to weep into and snuggle down for a bitching session. Living with girls may not be the pornographic experience it’s made out to be, but we can teach you fundamental life skills such as helping you better your image, become a more emotionally balanced individual, and learn the lyrics to everything Britney Spears has ever released.
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Living with boys Living in the same house with a guy is the best thing that can happen to a girl. We don’t take up space with our massive wardrobe, tons of beauty products or piles of jewellery. One of the most important things is that when a guy is angry at you he says it, so you don’t have to follow him around wondering what you possibly could have done wrong, dodging very vague accusations of not valuing a friendship in the meantime. Men allow you room for self-improvement. We don’t really spend entire days laying down in front of a television in our boxers drinking beer and farting uncontrollably. Instead, we are complicated and advanced creatures just wearing caveman gimmicks to protect people close to us. When we want to, us males
are capable of being extremely profound, caring and supportive. Plus, not only are we going to sit down and join you in cussing at the common enemy, but also we are going to hunt down and kick some butt. Furthermore, contrary to another very common misconception, a man will NOT constantly and indiscriminately try to get off with you. (Most of the time.) All in all, living with a guy is not exactly a life of heavenly luxury but it will bring you peace of mind and freedom of lifestyle. Guys rock. •
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Konstantinoupolis, seriously? “ARE you Konstantinoupolis?” That was the first thing an organiser told me when I got out off the bus. So I thought of writing a really short tribute to the session’s host city name and discover its importance through history. by Konstantinos Andronikidis (GR)
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ith almost 12 million citizens, Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city and harbour. Connecting the Marmara sea in the south to the Black sea in the north, Istanbul is unique for standing on two continents, the European and Asian. But what about Istanbul’s past? The city was first named Byzantium honouring its founder Byzanda, king of Megara. At that point begins its great history which still continues until today. The city was the capital of three empires, the Roman, the Byzantine and the Ottoman. One can easily understand the reason why by just looking at the map. Konstantinos I transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to New Rome as it was called at that time. Soon, not only the citizens but also the whole world called it with its founder’s name, Konstantinoupolis (the city of Konstantinos). The Greeks call it even today Poli (city) because of its importance and growth. For over 1000 years, it was one of the greatest cities and has never stopped inspiring the people of the world. 12
During the Ottoman empire its name changed many times. Its current name, Istanbul, was established in 1926, three years after Ankara became the capital of modern Turkey. Even though there is not an etymological explanation of the name, most researchers consider that it comes from the Greek phrase ‘eis tin Poli’ (‘to the city’) which was a very common saying for travellers at that time. Whichever the name may be, Istanbul has changed the history of the West and it keeps influencing it even today. How could someone not feel in awe when visiting its monuments, meeting its culture and breathing its air? Here the Asian culture meets the West and the outcome is a unique feeling that you can’t have anywhere else in the world. It is that feeling that makes people keep coming back again and again. It may be the history, it may be the culture, it may be the food but in the end it is magic. •
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by Nina Selmer (NO)
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Gender bender IF YOU were asked to name the types of gender you know, you would probable name two. But what if I told you that there are actually five genders?
by Yaprak Yıldırım (TR)
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he strict opinion over gender is usually set upon the differences between the sexes and how they affect our social roles. But Gloria Steinem, a women-rights defender, argues that sometimes the opposite happens, and it is the case with hermaphrodites. A hermaphrodite is a person who has both female and male sexual characteristic. According to the studies of Steinem there are three types of hermaphrodites: merm, herm and ferm. Herm stands for a true hermaphrodite who has equal parts from each sex, while merm and ferm, respectively, have more male and female inclinations. When hermaphrodites are born, with the consent of their parents, doctors operate on them to make sure that they belong to a certain gender. This unfortunate situation indicates that we cannot accept people as they are, since we try to make them similar to us. Steinem uses this fact as a starting point and ends up with this astonishing result: Gender became so powerful that we
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The ancient Greeks also knew about hemaphrodites, but modern society seems to have forgotten
change people’s sexes, because we do not think they fit in our ways of thinking. Prejudices and assumptions about gender are so widespread that it even affects the way we approach biological facts about human beings. Now, it seems that we are facing suppression against ferms, herms and merms, as if discrimination against women alone was not enough. Moreover, we are taking sex as a biological diversity and turning it into gender inequality. You may believe that gender is all about biological obligations. But the truth is it is nothing more than a set of than socially-constructed identities. On the other hand, what you can know for sure is that your calculation of how many genders exist has been wrong up until now. •
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Which of the five genders are you? SINCE you learned about the five genders, it is time for you to discover your inner gender. Answer the questions and enjoy the reality.
5. a) b) c) d) e)
What is your favourite smartphone application? BBM Temple Run Candy Crush Snapchat Angry Birds
by Levent Aslan (TR) 6. Which dessert are you? 1. a) b) c) d) e)
What type of Haribo sweets are you? Golden Bears Worms Mini Rainbow Frogs Jelly Babies Clown Fish
a) b) c) d) e)
Sugar cubes Baklava Ice cream Cake (it indeed is a lie, by the way) Cookies
2. a) b) c) d) e)
What does the fox say? Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Joff-tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow! Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!
7. a) b) c) d) this e)
Which desert are you? (These are real!) Arctic Desert Gibson Desert...birthplace of Braveheart Sahara Desert Simpson Desert...yes, Springfield is pretty close to
3. a) b) c) d) e)
What kind of shake would you prefer? Shake It Up Şekerim Protein Shake Harlem Shake Milkshake Shakespeare
4. a) b) c) d) e)
Which punctuation mark defines you the best? Question mark? Exclamation mark! Dot. (Parantheses) Slash/
Chihuahuan Desert...full of tiny dogs
Chihuahuan Desert
If you mostly chose: • A’s, you are a ferm • B’s, you are a male • C’s, you are a hermaphrodite • D’s, you are a merm • E’s, you are a female
Result
Slash/
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Prefabricated Houses & Moduler Containers