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The Yeşil Kamp (Green Camp), hosted in Turkey in Çanakkale’s bay of Assos, Bektaş village by the Green Thought Association took place this year with participation by 153 people.
The participants were mostly young. We hosted 16 separate events featuring 32 guests over 3 days. Different from previous years, the camp was also host to an international event this year.
The Green School, co-hosted with the Green European Foundation (GEF), was on Wednesday, the 1st of August and featured theory presentations and workshops under three headings.
The first session of this Green School was the Rights of Nature and Environmental Constitutionalism panel, where facilitation was by Ümit Şahin, Senior Fellow at the Istanbul Policy Center. Speakers were Rana Göksu, volunteer with the Green Thought Association and Georgi Velev of the Bulgarian Green Party’s Save Pirin campaign.
The second session was on Gender Policies and Queer Ecology. Sevil Turan of the Green Thought Association facilitated; speakers were Vesna Jesup, Member Party Relations Coordinator for the European Greens, Beatrice White from the Green European Foundation (GEF), and Teo Comet of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG).
The third panel was on Food Sovereignty and Food Policies. Bengi Akbulut of the Ecology Collective was the facilitator here. Presenters were Leyla Aslan Ünlübay, president of the Buğday Association for Ecological Living, Ayşenur Arslanoğlu, leader of SlowFood Turkey, and Antoine Tifine of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG).
In the evening, Akgün İlhan, lecturer at Boğaziçi University lead a workshop titled ‘How Should We Fight the Water Crisis?,” Cihan Koral Malak lead one on Gender and Queer Ecology, and Durukan Dudu of Anadolu Meraları (Graze-lands of Anatolia) lead one on Food Policy.
On the 2nd of August, The Yeşil Kamp started.
After introductions games with participants, the Introduction to Green Politics presentation which we have every year was made by Alper Akyüz, board member with the Green Thought Association.
Interior architect and designer Gökalp Ceylan together with participants designed fonts themed wind, sun, and coal.
Academic Sezai Ozan Zeybek gave a presentation as the last event of the day, titled Three Alternative Stories Regarding the Future of Democracy: What If Democracy is not What We Think It Is?
Participants started the day doing Yoga with instructor Tuba Yalçın on the 3rd of August. Post-breakfast, instructors from the Çamtepe School of Life of the Another School Is Possible Association discussed alternative education models and shared what they practice.
Rauf Kösemen of the Myra Social Good Agency opened up for debate how communication can create social good and in what areas this is possible.
After Lunch, lawyer Şebnem Eraş Çelebi, in her presentation Law for Life, talked on the similarities and differences between the legal rights of nature and legal rights of human beings.
Güneşin Aydemir, Green Thought Association member and founder of the Buğday Association for Ecological Living related in her presentation titled The Height of Alternatives: Nature, how alternatives presented by nature fully affects all aspects of life.
The last event of the day was the performance by trans activist Esmeray of her sketch Kestirmeden Hikayeler (Short-cut Stories).
Yoga with instructor Tuba Yalçın again started the day on the 4th of August. After breakfast, Bahar Vidinlioğlu lead a workshop on the Skinner technique of letting go as a means to rediscover harmony with nature.
Following Vidinlioğlu, Pikan Agency’s Communication Improvement Director Pınar İlkiz had a presentation on the management of human resources in improving civil society communications.
After lunch, the topic was renewable energy, on which the Green Thought Association has been working for a long time. Sevil Turan, General Coordinator of the Green Thought Association along with Oral Kaya, Director of Troya Environmental Association had a presentation titled The Sun and the Wind Suffice for Us.
Alper Akyüz, board member with the Green Thought Association, in his presentation Alternatives in Organising and Civil Society, lead a discussion on in what political areas civil society can exist and organise.
The last event of the day and of the camp was the presentation on rethinking the body as an instrument along with Ömer Ongun, one of the dancers of the Kardeş Türküler music ensemble, where the participants joined in a percussion show.
On Sunday the 5th of August, after a group photo, we had the session where participants shared their requests and wishes and the camp closed.
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