Wednesday March 10

Today I took on the city of Brussels alone. The use of public transportation in this city is
relatively easy and quite convenient. I bought lots of chocolate and browsed in central town at
Galeries St. Hubert. Our class met up at 1:00pm to head to Union of European Turkish
Democrats (EUTD).
Our presenter today was Mehmet Alparlan Saygin, Secretary General of the UETD.
UETD Brussels is an independent civilian organization founded in 2005. It was accredited to the
European Parliament in 2007. The direct mission of the UETD Brussels is the optimization of
the statute of European Turks at both the political and socio-economic level. The five core
objectives of UETD include; promotion of the new sociological identity under the name “Euro-
Turks”, achievement of political participation, increase activities around intercultural dialogue
and combating racism/discrimination/nationalism, interlocutor in the media and among political
authorities during negotiations on Turkey’s membership, and a decision on the EU membership
of turkey which is a political issue that should be kept separately from the sociological issue
“Euro-Turks.”
Saygin stressed participation of Euro-Turks rather than just being integrated. He himself
is Turkish but born and raised in Belgium. If anyone has a place to stress this concept, it is him.
Carrying two feelings of identity connected with different groups should be regarded as social
enrichment and a positive consequence of globalization. It is essential that Euro-Turks develop
new methods to gain political consciousness.
The UETD consists of volunteers and is concerned with promoting social identity for
Euro-Turks. They work on concepts, terminology, and definitions for Euro-Turks. One of
Saygin’s statements was “participate: push to a homogenic community for making decisions and
political ideas.” One term he used that I thought was very appropriate was to “harmonize.” The
UETD has even used a chorus “Civilizations Chorus” to help promote intercultural activity.
Turkey’s accession should be considered a tool, not an end goal. The first priority should be to
form a democratic Turkey.
During questions we discussed that the Ottoman Archives were not sufficiently taught in
schools. One of our main points as a class was that Turkey’s geography has been an inhibitor to
its accession. How can Turkey be considered outside Europe when Cyprus is a part of the EU
and it is further south? Politics aren’t always logical apparently. The UETD took a much
different approach as compared to what we had seen yesterday. Their approach was more social
and much less political.
Later on in the evening we went to a meeting with students from Leuven University,
which is just outside Brussels. They were all very friendly and very curious about us. It was a
diverse, multicultural, and multilingual room. This was a new experience for me. Our instructor
was able to translate so we could communicate quite sufficiently. Multiculturalism and Identity
were the topics of discussion. Having more than one identity European-Turkish is common.
They said that mother tongues should be maintained in a multicultural environment. Turkish
families have a close attachment between mother and father. We learned about differences
between Belgium and Turkish students. Sadly, there is negativity in the media between Turks
and Belgians. At the end of this meeting a question was asked to all guests, “What would the
world be like if there was one language and one culture?” Most attending said it would be
boring, bland, unproductive, and lacking innovation.
After our meeting with the students from Leuven University, they treated us to a Turkish
dinner which was delicious. I found their hospitality, friendliness, and politeness a great aspect
of their culture and heritage. It was a pleasant evening.