March 10,2010 Our two meetings today were with two Turkish NGOs: the Union of European Turkish Democrats and a confederation of Turkish student organizations in Brussels. In the morning, we ‘were presented with the mission of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) by the organization's Secretary-General, Mehmet Alparslan Saygin. Mr. Saygin discussed the objectives of the UETD: namely to promote a “European Turkish” identity, to remove the seemingly false debate over integration, to foster some sort of intercultural dialogue, to serve as an interlocutor between communities and government, and to support Turkey-EU relations, Indeed, in an ambitious platform, the UETD seeks to remove conceptions of a divisor between identities, that Turks should not have to choose between being European or Turkish or even debate over integration. Rather, they should work towards participation in the political process of Europe generally and Belgium specifically. Mr. Saygin cited the recent collapse of the Belgian government and the lack of consultation of minority NGOs during the government re-structuring process as a mindset that required changing. In a similar vein, the UETD views Turkey's goal of EU membership not as some sort of culmination process or a means to an end, but merely a Corollary to the integration of European Turks. The EU will certainly achieve plurality and fulfill the “Unity in Diversity” mantra and Turkey will certainly be furnished with democratic preservation. Mr. Saygin questioned however, the popular perception of such a process in a rather enlightening way; certainly EU membership is important for Turks, but for Turks in Europe, their political integration and political participation and involvement are more important. ‘The UETD has already engaged in various academic styled events highlighting the European connections of Turkey by providing proof from the vast Ottoman Archives and through other education enhancing measures. Most Europeans do not know that Turkey has historically been inside of Europe, and the UETD has taken on the formidable role of promoting such awareness. This presentation certainly resonated with my own disillusionment with Asian immigrant ‘communities in the United States; often parochial in nature and politically apathetic, the burden of spurring participation often falls to NGOs (such as the European UETD), Our second meeting was with a group of Turkish students, which provided the opposite perspective by stressing the need for the preservation of the Turkish identity whilst integrating Belgian university students of Turkish descent or origin congregated into a broad umbrella ‘organization of university clubs. They discussed various aspects of the Turkish identity, from language to Islamic observances and traditions. Just as interesting as the integrationist perspective, the preservation perspective offered a new avenue into identity questions, Students attending university in Belgium, who often knew a plurality of languages from French, Flemish, Dutch, Turkish, German, to English, were still involved in preserving their Turkish culture. Political awareness was also pervasive in the group as well. Thus the day offered a mix of “Euro- ‘Turks” involved in two European based NGOs that provided a broad alternative to what we were studying in Turkish accession. The significant outcome of the day was that we met with Turks that considered themselves European and were made aware that they were just as much entitled to the elusive “European identity” as anyone else.