Reflections from the commemoration of International Day of the Child Girl – 10 October 2021

By Salih MANSUR, written for The Light Millennium

I was happy to watch the live webinar, “TURKEY: PIONEERED THE GIRLS EDUCATION IN THE RURAL AREAS DURING THE ATATÜRK ERA (1923-1938), with the theme: “THE DIGITAL GENERATION” that was jointly organized and presented by the Ataturk Society of America (ASA) and The Light Millennium, Charitable Global Human Advancement Org. (LM-Global) in association with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, on Sunday, October 10, 2021. The webinar presented in support of the International Day of the Girl Child, which United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the “Day of the Girl” to observe internationally in late 2011 to achieve gender equality and empower women.

World Girls Day (October 11) aims and encourages raising awareness for equal rights and opportunities for girls, especially in the field of education. Having cultural backgrounds rooted in Turkey, and in particular as non-profit organizations committed to doing presentations regarding the importance of Atatürk’s political philosophy for international prosperity and peace; both organizers emphasize the Atatürk Era (the first Republic Era) from 1923 to 1938, in their public presentations.

During this time, compulsory free public education for girls and boys was established in place; in particular, providing equal education opportunities for the girls in rural areas through Village Institutions. The organizers define that the Ataturk Era of the Republic of Turkey was a pioneer and an inspiration for equal education in the World, in particular girls education in the developing and Islamic countries.

In their opening remarks, Ms. Mirat Yavalar of Ataturk Society of America, and Bircan Ünver of The Light Millennium emphasized that how M. K. Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey stressed the importance of educating girls and more importantly Atatürk prioritized the gender-equality in his reforms decades ago by opening co-ed schools for boys and girls and integrating women in the fabric of society. 

The Guest of Honor, (R) Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan who initially pioneered the presentation of the International Day of the Girl Child to the UN General Assembly during his Permanent Representation to the United Nations on behalf of Turkey along with Canada and Peru, explained Turkey’s important role in the acceptance of this day by the UN General Assembly with examples from the Atatürk Era regarding the educational opportunities available to girls as well as with instances from his own life on, how important and fundamentally radical changes and developments were guided by education in his family. Ambassador Apakan drew attention to the fact that the contribution of investments made especially in girls to development, sustainable development, and progress multiplied exponentially and that the contribution and positive return is more than anything else. 

Ambassador Apakan highlighted that because of Ataturk’s reforms and encouragement, his grandmother was able to study to become a teacher in the early years of the republic which gave away to her children also to study, especially the girls such as Apakan’s aunt was one of the earliest university female graduates of Turkey along with Nermin Abadan Unat who is a famous academician, lawyer, sociologist, writer, and a professor of Bogazici University. Ambassador Apakan draws attention to the power of education of how one woman, his grandmother transformed the whole family to be educated for generations to come. Ambassador Apakan concluded his speech to use and utilize digitalization in education. 

Meanwhile, I’d like to thank Gülgün Karamete of ASA who is also a professional actress and an acting instructor, who greatly introduced the honorable guests to us. I cannot proceed further without reminding what she quoted in between from Ataturk “Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains that the other half can soar into skies?” 

Then, Prof. Dr. Ayşe Yüksel, president of Association for the Support of Contemporary Living (ÇYDD: Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği), who holds masters and Ph.D. degrees in Public Health from Istanbul University’s Health Sciences Institute, talked about how she and Türkan Saylan, the founder of ÇYDD, acted swiftly in 1988 when they heard there was no girl who was high-school grad in Siirt’s Pervari in eastern Turkey, and they started supporting only 17 girls then, and now to reach thousands. Prof. Yüksel emphasized the importance of powerful women for a powerful tomorrow. 

As well, I cannot pass what Ms. Ünver quoted from Ataturk’s memoirs when he was in Karlsbad, in today’s Czechia in July of 1918 for a doctor’s visit because of his kidney disease, and what he wrote is very remarkable:  “Let’s be bold on this women’s issue. Let’s leave the delusions… Let them open up, let’s embellish their minds with serious sciences and arts. Let’s explain chastity in a scientific and sanitary way. Let us give priority to their honor and dignity.” Also, it is noted that Atatürk’s Karlsbad memoir is filled with ideas about empowering women. 

Then, Davut Ökütçü presented the Darüşşafaka Educational Institutions. I got to learn from Mr. Ökütçü that although the school was first established in 1863, it took some about hundred years to start accepting girls, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2021; better yet, this initiative gave birth to exponential success resulting in many female graduates and finding their niche in the male-dominated workforce and academia. Also, Mr. Ökütçü touch-based on Darüşşafaka’s digital transformation earlier which helped it to cope best with the urgent transition from in-person classes to distance learning because of the pandemic that swept the globe. 

“You can be sure that Turkish women will work for the peace and security of the world by giving their hand to world womanhood.” – M. K. Ataturk

Özlem Özdemir, the author of the book “Afet”, emphasized the role and influence of Afet İnan in the equal rights given to girls and women in the first period of the Republic. Ayşe “Afet” İnan (November 29, 1908 – June 8, 1985) was a Turkish historian and sociologist. She was an adopted daughter of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. At the same time, Ms. Özdemir expressed her regret that such a female pioneer figure as Afet Inan with great accomplishments is not celebrated nor mentioned on an annual basis in Turkey, not even for the International Women’s Day, and that there is not even a program named after her, and expressed her desire to fill this gap with her biographical book “Afet”.

Güller Yazgı Ataka talked about how the Darüşşafaka Educational Institute impacted her life positively after the death of her father, and now that she is hopeful and ready to touch others’ lives in a meaningful way. 

Sevinç Orman, another Darüşşafaka student, who is passionate about psychology and many more, founded the Psychology Union of Turkey which is a non-profit youth organization that gathers high school students under one roof who want to study psychology or want to have knowledge in this field. Despite her very young age, she’s gathered the wisdom of ages; thanks to such institutions as Darüşşafaka that helped her gain confidence. 

Melike Külcü, who is a snowdrop/graduate (Kardelen) of Association for the Support of Contemporary Living (ÇYDD: Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği) will continue her studies in Germany, and she likes to magnify the importance of digitization; otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible for her to further her studies abroad because she’d attend classes online so far. She likes to extend her gratitude to ÇYDD to give her such an opportunity.

Meliha Kılıç, another snowdrop of ÇYDD, is happy that because many women touched her life because she met a great teacher when she was in junior high. Despite the fact that her family didn’t lack finances to sustain her education, but because of the traditional approach by her patriarchal father towards girls education, she had to pave her way around with the help of women in her life, and associations such as ÇYDD, she is now as a woman of career, extending help to those who are unfortunate enough.

And the last, Zafer Cınbıl, who is a musician talked about the “Village Institutes” which were a group of provincial schools in Turkey. The project started in 1940 to initially train teachers. They were the cornerstones of rural development projects in the post-war Turkish state. When most villages did not have many educational institutions, the institutes helped educate the rural population. Mr. Cınbıl, whose parents and sister were the product of the Village Institutes, gave us insight into how integrated the institutes were in real life similar to today’s Montessori and Waldorf schools in a way of marrying practice into theory, and nature into nurture. Later, Mr. Cınbıl gave us a mini-concert by singing a song from his album called “My mother’s kitchen” that he was inspired by his mother’s singing while she was cooking.  

In her closing remarks, Bircan Ünver read some comments from the audience, such as one female attendee saying that she owed her success to Turkey’s free state university system. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to afford it, but thanks to the pro-bono system she was able to climb her way to professor-hood in a university. Now, she pays back by helping female students in particular by providing them assistantship in her university. The audience comments went on with thanks to Ataturk’s genius infrastructure that he started with his reforms. 

The webinar was concluded with one last word by the participants that (R) Ambassador Apakan reminded us of the importance of investing in girls because it is the investment for our future with the greatest return. Mr. Ökütçü quoted the great writer Yaşar Kemal that he said humans die when they lose hope, and Mr. Ökütçü stated that his hopes were revived because of such people like the participants and intuitions as Darüşşafaka. Ms. Kılıç gave an example from her experience how a girl whose education was discontinued because of her family’s conservative approach, but didn’t stop learning English, later to help her brother extend his business globally and giving a used computer transformed her life greatly.

I’d like to add an anecdote from Dr. Canan Dağdeviren, who is an academic, physicist, material scientist, and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who she said in her interview for the Tree of Evolution that her life turned around to a greater direction when her father gifted her a book about Marie Curie, who was one of the greatest scientists of her time. Dr. Dağdeviren also states that she’s inspired by Ataturk when her motivation is low. 

In conclusion, it all comes down to the importance of women’s education as the old African proverb goes “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation)”. I can already see the prevalence of women in the higher education where I am, also I was just checking a report for my research at LaGuardia Community College, and seeing the number of female participants higher gave me hope for the future of our humanity because more educated women mean more educated children, and so forth. I’d like to thank both the organizers and the participants for giving us this opportunity and hope. 

– Salih Mansur, reflected from https://vimeo.com/633551987 & https://vimeo.com/640753193

Short Biography of the Speakers:

SOURCES
http://www.ataturksociety.org
https://www.lightmillennium.org
https://www.un.org/en/department-global-communications
https://www.lightmillennium.org/un/2021/dunya-kiz-cocuklari-konusmaci-ozgecmis-bio-turkce-english-10-10-21.pdf
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6853806122206334976
https://www.un.org/en/observances/girl-child-day
https://www.biyografya.com/biyografi/25021
https://ataturkansiklopedisi.gov.tr/bilgi/afetinanin-m-kemal-ataturkun-karlsbad-hatiralari/
https://www.darussafaka.org/en/schools
https://cdn.darussafaka.org/c/uploads/articles/5cc1d27e89b32750c33fc485/content-62ace124785273b4ef2d34d57009c8e5.pdf
https://kids.kiddle.co/Afet_%C4%B0nan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afet_%C4%B0nan
https://en.unesco.org/courier/november-1981
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000074752
https://www.milasonder.com/yazarlar/celal-durgun/ataturk-ve-bilim/1955
https://www.cydd.org.tr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Institutes#:~:text=Village%20Institutes%20
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ataturks-vision-was-based-on-education-information-and-science-professor-138348
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canan_Da%C4%9Fdeviren
https://youtu.be/MuTJGC0aGtc
http://journals.ed.ac.uk/hydra/article/view/720
https://www.lightmillennium.org/un/2021/dunya-kiz-cocuklari-konusmaci-ozgecmis-bio-turkce-english-10-10-21.pdf

FLYER FROM THE EVENT 
In support of the International Day of the Girl Child and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4: Equal and Quality Education and SDG#5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

• TURKEY: PIONEERED THE GIRLS EDUCATION IN THE RURAL AREAS DURING THE ATATÜRK ERA
Digital Generation – Our Generation

In support of the International Day of the Girl Child and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4: Equal and Quality Education and SDG#5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• TURKEY: PIONEERED THE GIRLS EDUCATION IN THE RURAL AREAS DURING
THE ATATÜRK ERA
Digital Generation – Our Generation
 
• TÜRKİYE: ATATÜRK DÖNEMİNDE KIRSAL BÖLGELERDE KIZ ÇOCUKLARIN EĞİTİMİNDE ÖNCÜ ÜLKE
Dijital Kuşak – Bizim Kuşak
• Date/Tarih: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2021
• TÜRKİYE: ATATÜRK DÖNEMİNDE KIRSAL BÖLGELERDE KIZ ÇOCUKLARIN EĞİTİMİNDE ÖNCÜ ÜLKE
Dijital Kuşak – Bizim Kuşak
• Date/Tarih: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2021

Confirmed Speakers/Konuşmacılar:
• Ms. Mirat Yavalar, Opening Remarks, Ataturk Society of America
• Honorary Speaker: Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan
• Prof. Dr. Ayşe Yüksel, President, Çağdaş Yaşam Derneği (ÇYDD)
• Ms. Özlem Özdemir, Journalist, Author
• Mr. Davut Ökütçü, Advisory Board Member, Darüşşafaka Cemiyeti
• Mr. Zafer Cınbıl, Composer, Musician – Memories from his mother who was educated at The Village Institutes in Turkey
 
Participating Students: & Graduates
• Ms. Güller Yazgı Akata, Darüşşafaka High School
• Ms. Sevinç Orman, Darüşşafaka High School
• Ms. Meliha Kılıç, Kardelenler, ÇYDD
• Ms. Melike Külcü, Kardelenler, ÇYDD

Description & Concept:
On the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child (11 October), Ataturk Society of America and The Light Millennium, Charitable Global Human Advancement Organizations, associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, jointly organized the following titled webinar, “Turkey: Pioneered the Girls Education in the Rural Areas During the Atatürk Era”, which is scheduled through Zoom platform on Sunday, October 10, 2021, at 12:00 to 13:30 (EDT).

Having cultural backgrounds rooted in Turkey, and in particular as non-profit organizations committed to doing presentations regarding the importance of Atatürk’s political philosophy for international prosperity and peace; both organizers emphasize the Ataturk Era (the first Republic Era) from 1923 to 1938, in their public presentations. During this time, compulsory free public education for girls and boys was established in place; in particular, providing equal education opportunities for the girls in rural areas through Village Institutions. The organizers define that the Ataturk Era of the Republic of Turkey was a pioneer and an inspiration for equal education in the World, in particular girls education in the developing and Islamic countries.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted on December 19, 2011, Resolution 66/170  to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

Turkey being a pioneering member state in the “girls rights”, along with being one of the founding members of the United Nations, led the resolution along with Canada and Peru in the UN General Assembly.
Based on this background, the webinar’s title and concept are inspired by the Atatürk Era along with International Day of the Girl Child. 

As stated in the UN-related web page: “the International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.”
2021 UNICEF’s dedication theme for the International Day of Girl Child is: Digital Generation – Our Generation
The webinar aims to present high school, university, and new graduate students to cover the dedication theme from the adolescent and young girls views as first-hand sources.

FRAMEWORK of the International Day of Girl Child #GirlChildDay
“Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as of tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders. An investment in realizing the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability.”

BACKGROUND (excerpt):https://www.un.org/en/observances/girl-child-day
In 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, countries unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls. The Beijing Declaration is the first to specifically call out girls’ rights.

On December 19, 2011, United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get to justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining our shared environment now and for future generations.
Sources:
UN Intl. Day of Girl Child: https://www.un.org/en/observances/girl-child-day
UNICEF – https://www.unicef.org/gender-equality/international-day-girl-2021