The Daily Newspaper of EUROsimA 2012

Volume 8, Issue 3

28 April 2012

In the second day of EUROsimA meeting, honorable heads of the states of the European Council started their debate with the question of how to ensure peaceful environment for the implementation of democ-ratic rule of law after the Arab Spring movement in the southern neighborhood.

Despite integrating southern neighboring countries into a specially designed common market as a solu-tion to economic situation of the region remained as a debatable question, almost all representatives agreed that the economic and social development was necessary to ensure stability in the region.

Delegation of Lithuania pointed out that having elections does not necessarily mean democracy is there, since these countries are lacking democratic culture and there is always a danger of newly established governments to turn into new dictatorships. Hence, as suggested by Polish Delegation, a sustainable de-mocratic environment should be ensured though monitoring the transparency and the political plurality of the elections. Underlined by the Delegation of Slovenia, a step by step approach is needed in order to reach first, the short term target of consenting military forces to transfer their power to the civilian au-thorities; and second, the long term target of bringing social and economical development in the region.

At the peak of their hot debate, delegates were further devastated by the news from Syrian capital Da-mascus where The Embassy of Austria was hit by heavy rocket attacks, resulting in the deaths of many including the ambassador of Austria, Ms. Maria Kunz. In addition to the continuing violence within the country against innocent civilians, this development has just increased the ongoing tension that the For-eign Ministers of the Foreign Affairs Council were invited to the committee to solve the dispute.

In the middle of the crisis even more shocking news came from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who connected to the European Council online in order to declare the Security Council's inevitable decision of the military intervention to Syria. Council's reaction to this historical decision is now being waited impa-tiently by the international public. Gülbaşak Özcan / European Council

Winter is Coming!

Peace is Back!

PAGE 2

After the mock debate the real debate began. The European Union gathered up to discuss and solve is-

sues. The Union started with the European Neighbourhood Policy towards Arab Spring. One by one,

every delegate shared their opening speeches to show their attitude on the subject. In the same time a small problem occurred. Note passing was not fast. Delegates had to wait a while for the admins to pass

the papers. This was caused because of the lack of attention. When Germany expressed their ideas the

delegate was scared that the Union was just finding short term solutions. The delegate mentioned that

they should find a permanent solution and not loose time with short term solution. At the beginning of

the second session of the day every single delegate looked ready. It was like silence before hurricane. The

chair Mr. Kemal mentioned that they have to finish the subject quickly, not loose time and talk directly about the subject. This caused some worries in the room. When I see the session in a different point of

view, a different things caught by attention. There is no note passing at all in the second session. Does

this mean no one wants to cooperate with each other? Or did they already plan everything? Interesting.

At last the first motion for unmodarated caucus has passed. Every country gathered up so it seems like

people will cooperate and find a solution immediately. It is very pleasing to see almost every delegate giv-ing their effort. The chairs are relaxing and laughing, using their free time carefully. The tension started

to increase as the unmodarated caucus became longer. The sound in the room increased and this started

to be fun. The chairs decided to change seats. These guys are funny. OH MY GOD. THE CRYSIS HITS

THE EC. In Syria the embassy of Austria is bombed. The European Council immediately called the FAC.

In the news it is said that this bombing was not on purpose BUT I doubt that. After debating for a while

Ban Ki Moon called the European Council because a lot of countries were in favour of this situation. So they decided to do something on this subject with the UN. So, we can say, peace is back. Ahmet Gürbüz / European Council

PAGE 3

Session one was started for delegates know each other. Every delegate introduced themselves one by one. They were starting the debate with current topic. The committee of General Affairs Council current topic is accession of Turkey. Following the session all delegates was starting to read their opening speeches. The group discussed whether if the geographical location of Turkey should be considered. For a long pe-riod of time the session has ended. After the discussing, the desire of speaking trapped in the delegates so they are already wrote their speeches for the second session. After sharing ideas, the sides of the dele-gates started to come out. When the session two started, there were some delegates who were still sleep-ing. After that some delegates believes that Turkey must be in the European Union but some don’t be-lieve that, like delegation of France. When the delegation of France speaks all delegates listen more care-fully because he has a big role in the European Union. At the end of his speech almost every delegates are holding their placards up to speak. Next session they discussed about the possible problems regard-ing to the Muslim population living in European countries. The delegation of UK stated that countries having problem with Muslim population should revise their integration policies. At the same time I can see that the message paper traffic is very high. I wonder which countries want to work with each other. We faced an interesting occasion; the delegation of France was sitting somewhere else from its chair. When the chair asked a question France responded as we are protesting. The countries that don’t like France started pressuring the delegate. Finally we were at the unmodarated caucus and they were dis-cussing their ideas with each other. At this time ı asked questions about session to the delegations. Dele-gation of Czech Republic said “ I am worried and ı want to express my feelings more.” So let’s talk about the delegates own thoughts in General Affairs Council.

I asked their own thoughts about GAC committee, Party (first night), international delegates... Let’s have a look what people said;

The delegation of Ireland Lara Aylin Yıldırım “The topic which they debating is really current topic and each delegates ideas is very different by the way our sessions is very good .At the party it was very fun.”

The delegation of Lithuania Irem Büyükışık “I believe that we will have more fun when time passes. We couldn’t meet with everyone and the committees are really serious, I hope they will make stuff that we will like. Parties are fun but not many people were there L”

At the last session General Affairs Council was discussed working paper. End of the motion about work-ing paper. We watched a simulation about the relations between Cyprus and Turkey and accession of Turkey. That funny video added fun to our committee and made us laugh. Thanks to the director of me-dia Adil Özgün Özenç and participants Okyanus Akın , Levent Kızılbağlı , Halil İbrahim Çelik. For today, that’s all for me. Tuğçe Balci / General Affairs Council

A protest from France

PAGE 4

Today’s session started at 9:30 with attrac-

tive topics about Arab Spring in Foreign Af-

fairs Council. One of those is whether sup-

porting Islamic Parties that are favored with

human rights, democracy, and better life for

anyone in the region, is relevant or reason-

able for the EU, or not. Germany, the

United Kingdom, Spain, Slovenia, Czech

Republic backed up Moderate Islamic Par-

ties like “Muslim Brothers” in order to cre-

ate a stability and wise political base or just

make an advancement in the region. Espe-

cially the United Kingdom and Spain re-

mark that a cooperation and contact with

the Arab League will be the most logical so-

lution because it is impossible to achieve a

solution without recognizing history, culture

and religion of the territory before the any possible action to there. In that point, the delegation of the

United Kingdom puts emphasis on that European way is not only way!, many times. On the other hand,

Hungary and Denmark stand against any cooperation with the Islamist party due to the party’s back-

ground and it’s tending to have an Iranian model. Particularly, Hungary delegate emphasizes the value of

the secularism in the domestic affairs. Conversely, the delegate of Denmark stated that the case is about

democracy not secularism.

Beside of them, delegates in general, point the willingness of Arab countries to accept their help because

European countries want to promote democracy but not by force. Moreover, the delegation of Greece says

that help for process does not provide only for Arab side but both side, so it is bilateral relationship be-

tween Europe and the Arab countries. Especially, economic cooperation will be crucial in these respects.

Towards the end of the session, Bulgaria’s statement which is “ France had gave money and support to

Latin Americas in order to fight against the United Kingdom, then it went bankrupt so French Revolution

occurred.” makes France delegate angry who underlines reasons of the Revolution which are “Justice,

Equality, and Freedom!”

With Tommaso Ripani (Delegate of Germany) who comes from Institute of European Studies in Brus-

sels: Honorable delegate, do you really believe that an unemployed, poor and ordinary Tunisian, Mo-

hamed Bouazizi, can let mass violent protests against government in power which overspreads other

parts of the region?

-Yes, I think so. As lots of cases, moments in history such as 1960s in the same region, even a single

event can change the dynamics because of low living standard, need of freedom. In my opinion he can

push the masses and he is the” last drop”.

Another one is, how do you see the role of social media to organize anti-governmental protests especially

in the Arab Awaking period?

-Their roles are crucial that in addition to social media, GSM and posting videos via Internet are very

strong tools to indicate violence, murder and movements against human right in the New World.

If I am not wrong, Germany supports Arab rebels against their rulers and regimes. Don’t you think, that

much support to other sovereign countries’ insurrectionists means overstep the mark? Do you have red

lines about interfere in one another country?

-First of all, Germany is a peaceful country which shared same values such democracy, human right with

protestors. Also Germany does not approve any invasion like in Libya case. We are on their side because

shared values and a message of hope for them. Sultan Erbaş / Foreign Affairs Council

European way is not only way

PAGE 5

The first session of the EUROsimA

2012 has started with the opening

speeches. All the delegates seemed

excited, following the session the

chairs has introduced themselves.

The chairs stated the rules of the

debate. The organization team

general director Levent Kızılbağlı

and the director of public relations

and delegate affairs Okyanus Akın

have observed the committee. To-

day, second session has started

with the Germany’s motion. But

the motion has failed. Admin staff

has changed the places of the

placards during the coffee break.

Second motion has mentioned

about long term crises. This mo-

tion has passed. And the delegation of Turkey has given a point for changing the placards. All the dele-

gates worked very hard. They have defended their countries. They all made researches about the Euro-

pean Union. Even though today is the second day of the conference, all the delegates still seemed so ex-

cited. The delegates who rarely participate to the debates only take part in the session to suspend the

meeting. All the delegates seemed sleepy because of the last night’s event. The delegates of Economic and

Financial Affairs Council have sent message paper frequently. They will become a team soon. They acted

like they all met before the conference. Here is my interview with an enthusiastic delegate:

What do you think about last night’s event?

-It was nice. I enjoyed a lot. I’m planning to attend to the other events.

Are you going to attend to EUROsimA 2013?

-Of course. This is going to be a very good experience. is very good opportunity to be in contact with the

reality of a new possible member states.

How many EUROsimA conferences did you attend?

-EUROsimA 2012 is my first conference. I’m so excited but I like it. I’m planning to attend EUROsimA

2013.

What has EUROsimA has gained you?

-EUROsimA helped met o build my confidence and improve my communicating skills. I’ve gained a lot of

friends. Because of this conference I’ve gained a lot of information about the daily problems.

Are you happy to be a delegate?

-Yes, I’m pleased to be a delegate. I made researches and I’ve gained a lot of information about other

countries. But I want to be a chair. I’ll work hard for it.

How did you decide to attend EUROsimA 2012?

-My friend has attended to EUROsimA last year. She told me about her experiences, so I decided to at-

tend EUROsimA 2012.I’ve also pleased to be here. Ece Tataroğlu / ECOFIN

News from ECOFIN

In today's session, our committee discussed the Schengen

Agreement and its conditions throughout the 1990s. In the

moderated caucus proposed by the UK, the honourable

delegates shared their opinions about the negative effects

of the Schengen Agreement. Representative of the UK

stated that we need a system to control possible crimes

that can be caused by the free movement such as smug-

gling, human and drug traffic. Another point of view was

stated by Greece is that northern countries will develop

faster than the south as a result of the agreement.

Spain's motion Schengen Information System was passed

in which delegates focused on the effects of the information

sharing. Generally, the delegates agreed on the sharing enough information with related institutions so

that level of justice, security and efficiency of the Schengen system will increase through cooperation of

parties to the agreement.

During these talks, the representative of Slovenia asked silence for a moment for his people who fought

for the independence of the country. This nice move was accepted by all delegates with sympathy and we

stood up with respect to losses of Slovenia. Another nice move came from the chair that played national

anthem of Slovenia. Merve Boz / Justice and Home Affairs Council

PAGE 6

A look to Schengen

A little talk with delegates

Greg, an Erasmus student from Germany, was very kind to have an interview for EUROsimA Daily News.

When I asked him for expressing his thoughts about EUROsimA, he said that achieving an

understanding of politics going on, General Affairs Council he works is especially helpful for that, and

embracing your country’s viewpoint, he is the delegate of Sweden, is very interesting and useful. He also

uttered that publicly communicating is a common challenge for individuals and he likes to debate in

EUROsimA, since it encourages not being scared of talking in front of a crowd. We’ve also talked about

the enjoyable sides of EUROsimA. I’ve asked him if it’s hard to drink all night and wake up early for

attending conferences. He told that it’s pretty fun to be drunk every night and comparing to MUNTR (2

hours for sleeping), he had a chance for a long sleep (5 hours) in EUROsimA. As Greg is an Erasmus

student, we also had conservation about METU and Turkish people. He said that METU was horrible in

winter because of bad weather conditions. But now, in summer time, it is very beautiful. He also stated,

it is nice that everyone is around your age in the campus. Besides, He stated, he loves Çarşı so much,

that he gained weight (6 kilos). And lastly, it was interesting to hear from him that people from different

departments are appreciable and it’s possible to understand which department they belong through their

appearance. =)

Nick is from Germany and it’s his second time in EUROsimA. He is a Rotary Exchange Student, he lives

in Istanbul now. As the delegate of Slovenia in Justice and Home Affairs Council, he said that is he

having so much fun. He is also the one that proposed to have one minute silence for the losses of

Slovenia, since Slovenia had independence war. It was such a nice idea. Furthermore, while we were

having conversation about his experiences in EUROsimA, he told that Özgehan Şenyuva’s speech in the

opening was very motivating talk (I agree with him =) ) We also talked about Turkey with Nick. He stated

that he is proud to be in Turkey as Turkey has a nice history and he has respect for Turkish people. It

was surprising for me to hear that, because I usually witness unfriendly comments from German people

about Turkey. I’ve shared my confusion with him, too. He explained it kindly that he was against Turks

when he was in Germany; but then he realized that they live with Turkish people but they know nothing

about them, so he decided to come Turkey. He also uttered that Turkey was from the beginning like a

European Country with the efforts of Ataturk. According to Nick, Turkey has never been the Muslim

country but it was the democratic one. But about Turkey’s joining of the EU, he asserted that Turkey’s

seeking for a position in the EU is skeptical, since it has not been easy to gain a position in the EU for

many countries possessing position right now. Begüm Çeliktutan / Justice and Home Affairs Council

Have a look at European Parliament! Second session of the European Parliament started with a motion to verify the committee followed by the role call. The chair encouraged the delegations to an unmoderated caucus for the things that they couldn’t emphasize on from the day before. As a result two motions were given one of them was an unmoderated caucus in order to discuss about possible solutions on the topic ‘’Illegal Immigration’’. The other one was a moderated caucus in order to speak about ‘‘Illegal Immigration which is caused by The Arab Spring’’. The committee goes for the unmoderated caucus and rejected the idea of a moderated caucus. Now this might seen normal to you, however the interesting part is that the same delegate give the same motion for an moderated caucus for the exact topic for three times and the commit-tee insisted on refusing the motion again and again. After the third time the delegate give the same motion again and committee finally accepted it. (Nice work S&D 3!!!) After that the house discussed on several topics like what immi-gration is, reasons of the illegal immigration, increasing the budget of frontex, make frontex work with the member states. The committee continued their session arguing on stabilizing the local economies and EPP strongly empha-sized on the European Union should provide humanitarian and technical assistance to the migrants. In a seriously annoying the committee stop to talk about the current topic that they should have and started to talk about refu-gees and asylum seeking for the migrates. After the warning of their lovely chair the committee gets back onto the subject and started working on their working papers. While the discussing about the solution a visa solution pop out which suggests ‘’illegal immigrants should have visas for EU’’. Of course most of the people don’t found it logical but there was this delegate who expressed her ideas in a very clear way in such a short time. The delegation of EFD 2 said that the solution is not going to work and even if that works it wont be for the sake of the European people. She also stated that those people could be anyone in any personality so they shouldn’t let the people that they don’t know into the Europe, since their priority is Protecting Europe and European People. Regarding to these word they came up with an idea which claims the creation of a buffer zone near the borders.

Does EPP Divided in THREE?

One of the most significant and eye catching thing during the sessions was the separation of European Peoples Party. A part of them were negotiating with ALDE another one was trying to negotiate with the EFD and the remain-ing ones were trying to crack into the groups of Social Democrats and The Greens. However it seems they are failing since the last two are pretty closed to the ideas coming from outside.

The Smart Pants

During the third session one of the delegates (EPP 19) got the attraction of the committee but unfortunately not in a charming way. The delegation tried to find and show his chairs’ mistakes with the help of the point of order but got owned every single time by his ‘’mistake free’’ chairs.

‘‘WHERE ARE THE GREENS?!!’’ –EPP 19

The representative of the Green politics of Europe aka The Greens… I call them the mysterious party of the EP, but the committee knows them as the ‘’The Ones Who Does Not Talk’’. There are some theories about that they are actu-ally some kind of a secret society or they performed the bow of silence for their religious views even some say that they just like to act like emos. But in real no one knows why they don’t speak.

As Prof. Özgehan Şenyuva once has said...

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE EUROPE FILM?

Baptiste Dardenne (European Council: Germany): L’auberge Espagnole

Michele Majidi (JHAL: France): Soul Kitchen

Serenay Demir (Committee Director of ECOFIN): Goodbye Lenin

Bengi Zeybek (European Parliament: representative of the Greens): Educators

İhsan Can Aşık (Committee Director of European Parliament): Midnight in Paris

Damla Sürmeli (European Parliament: representative of EPP): Eurotrip

Yeşim Yargıcı (European Parliament: representative of EPP): Midnight in Paris and Before Sunrise

Ekmel Sayıl (EC: Portugal): Barcelona, Barcelona

Yahya Berkol Gülgeç (Committee Director of European Council): Vargfimmen (Time of the wolwes)

Betül Bodur (Commitee Director of FAC): L’auberge Espagnole

Zeynep Özcebe (European Parliament: representative of EFD): the Schindler’s List

Çağrı Yılmaz (Committee Director of JHAC): Before Sunrise and Hostel

Onur Çağdaş Artantaş ( photographer): Eurotrip

Ata Cebeci (European Parliament: representative of EPP)

Öykü Sarıaslan (European Parliament: representative of S&D): Films of Roman Polinski and especially Chinatown

Mehmet Sabuncu (Press Member): Life is Beautiful

Zeynep Azizoğlu (Press Member): Lives of the Other

Mehmet Sabuncu and Zeynep Azizoğlu / European parliament

PAGE 7

EDITORIAL

MEMBERS OF

PRESS TEAM

DIRECTOR

Sibel DÜZ

REPORTERS

Zeynep AZİZOĞLU

Mehmet SABUNCU

Ahmet GÜRBÜZ

Tuğçe BALCI

Gülbaşak ÖZCAN

Sultan ERBAŞ

Merve BOZ

Begüm ÇELİKTUTAN

Ece TATAROĞLU

Hande KAYMA

PHOTOGRAPHER

Onur Çağdaş ARTANTAŞ