The sixth event of “the Harmonization – Just Us Conversations” organized by the Harmonization and Communication Department of our General Directorate with the cooperation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was held on 5 September 2019 Thursday in Bursa.

Bursa Deputy Governor Mustafa GÜNDOĞAN, Rector of Uludag University Prof. Dr. A. Saim KILAVUZ, Rector of Bursa technical university Prof. Dr. Arif KARADEMİR, our Deputy General Director Dr. Gökçe OK, our President of Harmonization and Communication Department Dr. Aydın Keskin KADIOĞLU, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Acting Mayor Murat DEMİR, Osmangazi District Governor Zafer ORHAN, Yıldırım District Governor Adem YAZICI, İnegöl District Governor Şükrü GÖRÜCÜ, Yenişehir District Governor Suat SEYİTOĞLU, Gürsu District Governor Mustafa KOÇ, Nilüfer District Governor Avni ORAL, Orhaneli District Governor Osman Emin BULGURLU, our Bursa Provincial Directorate of Migration Management Director İsmail Fatih TÜZEN, along with representatives of non-governmental organizations, local and foreign opinion leaders participated in the event.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Governor of Bursa Mustafa GÜNDOĞAN said: “We don’t have to belong to the same race or same religion in order to open our doors. Believe that today if these events were not in Syria, instead if they were in our neighbouring countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Greece or countries in distant lands and people tried to take refuge in Turkey, then we would receive them with open arms.” 

Rector of Uludag University Prof Dr. A. Saim KILAVUZ said: “In particular Turkey, in general our World is facing with a reality of migration even if it’s temporary. You see, we didn’t only open our border gates, we completely opened our hearts as Turkey, to the people, our siblings who are running away from the geography of our heart to us.”

Stating that there are people from 192 different countries in Turkey, our Deputy General Manager Dr. Gökçe Ok said: “We never called anyone ‘foreigners’ that we aided coming from what we call the geography of our heart and for centuries also our ancestors did the same no matter where in the world. We did not call our Meskhetian Turks, East Turkestani, Iraqis, Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, and Myanmarese as foreigners who are coming from the geography of our heart to take refuge. Even though there is no such international migration literature, we called them “our visitors” and “our siblings”.

In his speech our President of Harmonization and Communication Department Dr. Aydın Keskin KADIOĞLU said: “One of the most important subjects of migration is harmonization. In every country, migrants are expected to adapt to the communities in which they migrate. They are required to fulfill certain obligations related to their adaptation to new societies in which they are included. For example, learning the language of the country of migration is the most important factor in adaptation. You Syrian brothers and sisters should not forget about your own culture and your language, but you should also focus on language learning in a way that will adapt to our society.

In his speech, our Bursa Provincial Migration Management Director İsmail Fatih TÜZEN said: “As a nation, we could neither ignore the war in Syria, nor block our ears to the voice of the oppressed, nor mute our voice for places where the humanity was massacred. Keeping people alive has been in the basis of our nation’s civilization.”

In the event which the folk dances and stage performances of local and foreign communities took place; Turkish Academician Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yasin ŞEHİTOĞLU, Syrian Academician Maissa SAYED, President of GOCDER Cenk SARIGÖL and President of Perfect Heart (Kalbi Selim) Association Osman İPEKÇİOĞULLARI made an informative presentation about culture of living together.

The last part of the event, which includes migration stories and awareness raising informative videos, is moderated by our Department President Dr. Aydın Keskin KADIOĞLU.

The event, in which Existing Local Studies in the Field of Social Harmonization, Difficulties in the Field of Social Harmonization, suggestions, questions and requests from local and foreign participants were answered, ended with a collective photo shoot.

The day before the event, our President of Harmonization and Communication Department Dr. Aydın Keskin KADIOĞLU visited the neighbourhood and mukhtar and visited Bayirbucak Turkmen Fatima ABDULRAHMANI by going to the neighbourhoods where Syrians live intensively. KADIOĞLU, who also visited Bursa Provincial Directorate of Migration Management, wandered the rooms of our colleagues one by one. Our President of Harmonization and Communication Department KADIOĞLU then visited the mukhtar in the neighbourhood of Yavuz Selim, where the Syrians' workplaces are high desnity, talked with the people of the neighbourhood and made observations in the workplaces. After the observations, he was the guest of the dinner table which was prepared reflecting the cultures of various countries by Meskhetian Turk Gül ALİOĞLU.

 “Just Us Conversations” organized within the scope of harmonization activities will continue to be conducted in different provinces of Turkey with the participation of both communities.