The ‘International Relations and Modern Approaches Through the Media’s Eyes’ panel, which was organized in cooperation with Girne American University (GAU), Faculty of Political Sciences and Faculty of Communication, took place with a huge participation of educational staff and students.

The panel, which started with opening speeches of the Minister of TRNC Labour and Social Security Zeki Çeler, The Rector of GAU Professor Doctor Kutsal Öztürk, The Dean of GAU Faculty of Political Sciences Professor Doctor Aykut Toros and The Dean Deputy of Faculty of Communications Remziye Terkan, gained a lot of interest from the students.

The Dean of Faculty of Political Sciences Aykut Toros, in his opening speech; from the past to our present day, from our present day to the future, civilization and politics have three universal elements, the first one of these is climate, the second one is population, and the third one is energy, he said. In the rest of his speech Toros said;

 ‘’These three elements flow from the past to our present day, from our present day to the future in an embraced and integrated manner. Civilization discusses the junctions of these elements in the modern topics of our time’’

In his opening speech, The Rector of GAU Professor Doctor Kutsal Öztürk, expressed that he is a person that cares about freedom of the press and he is always on the side of the press being the independent, free and the 4th power, and added that his love and respect for the hard-working journalists who never write false news is endless. In the continuation of his speech Öztürk said:

 ‘’GAU is an international world university that aims, and manages to be international, with a good reputation in 3 continents and 7 countries. We know that, especially in international affairs, our press has influence on any duty. We wish to Express that we have faith in its power in these international affairs, and it has our support.’’ he expressed the importance of media with his words.

TRNC Minister of Labour and Social Security who was invited to the stage, said, ‘’Media’s power, directs you to be more cautious. The ones who will become communicators are luckier, because they will be the 2nd power. And those who are studying Political Science will improve their service to their country even further by being more cautious, the support and the criticism they get from media, will help them take better steps for their future. Big countries use their medias in the directions they want and get the support of their citizens in their international affairs but sadly, they also let other people die by the reasons they cause. Because of this, there is a lot to say.’’ He said and expressed that Communication and Political Sciences are connected and that media will help move them forward.

Çeler who also mentioned that big countries are using their media for bad purposes, allowed Dean Deputy for Faculty of Communications, Assistant Professor Doctor Remziye Terkan to speak after him. Terkan said; ‘’I will not go on without saying that, as Girne American University and especially as the Faculty of Political Sciences and the Faculty of Communication, we are very glad and honoured to host people who have such distinguished places in media and communications in our country. We find it very important to have our guests such as yourselves to share their real-life experiences with sincerity at events such as this along with our theory-piratic education which we give our students. We view it as a very important fortune, for our school, for ourselves, for our teachers and for our students, who have different world views to live under the same GAU roof and share their ideas freely.’’ Terkan continued his speech by saying ‘’As you may acknowledge, in our present day, the power of communication and media has a very important role in shaping our world and society. Media’s way of handling topics, their way of working on them and sharing them with the public may change the publics’ point of view on the topic in a heartbeat.’’, then later continued to Express the importance of knowing how media reads the continuous international affairs in our country and the world theatre, public and the media managers analysing way of viewing international affairs, students following Daily updates on the international affairs and knowing the relation between international relations and media’s role in it. While Terkan ended his words, he said ‘’Welcome to Girne American University’’ to all the speakers and offered his thanks to Coordinator of Faculty of Political Sciences Doctor Sadık Akyar and Coordinator for Faculty of Communication’s events, Doctor Kamil Kanıpek, and everyone who had worked in the organization of the event, in the name of the Faculties and the GAU.

Panel Moderator, Head of Faculty of the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Affairs, Assistant Professor Doctor Enver Gülseven, expressed that media is a tool to affect the public while speaking about the importance of public both in democratic and authoritarian regimes. He stated that he uses the Greek Press on the Cyprus issue and that the Turkish Cypriot press’ lacks on this topic. And he passed the speech to Journalist Hasan Hastürer afterwards.

One of the speakers, Hasan Hastürer, an experienced Journalist, started his speech by saying ‘’We are part of an interactive work. People can elect the President, they may have a place in the election, but the leadership is another matter. I’ve said these while criticizing, ‘You can’t defend yourself even in a matter that you are actually right’ The most important reason for this is you can’t speak the world language. The World language, is a matter of aligning your interests with the world interests. The national case matter makes it harder to move with the common language. You will not have a problem if you follow, step by step, whoever voices the official policies in that era, but if you don’t follow it or criticise it, you become a traitor.’’ Hastürer, who mentioned that Turkey has issues with many of its neighbours, stated that Turkey’s international problems also concern Cyprus. After mentioning that International diplomacy is built on mutual profit, expressed that TRNC has no way of advancing its international affairs. ‘’One of the characteristic traits of a modern society is the ability to criticise. Therefore, one must have their own opinions. It is very unfortunate that the press doesn’t have correct information.’’ After his speech, Hastürer passed the speech to Hasan Erçakıca.

Journalist, and former TRNC Presidential Speaker, Hasan Erçakıca, ‘’International developments and global problems may extremely affect our Daily lives. Media’s importance in International affairs increases day by day. The way to not be manipulated by one sided source is seeing alternative medias. As the use of media in International affairs increases, countries try to do something about it in their own ways.’’ He said and expressed the increasing importance of media in international affairs.

Another one of the speakers, Founding Director of TeMedya, Political Communicator Özdel Tokel also said, ‘’Every country that wants to dominate the World and its own region must also be dominant in media. This is the main requirement of our present day. Media is a concept that existed since humanity started living integrated. In old times, propaganda was done with some types of drawings on the cave walls, nowadays, it is done by various communication tools.’’ While expressing the importance of media from the past to the present with his words, he also stated the media is a decisive factor in international affairs. Tokel, who said that Turkey and TRNC’s greatest lack was lobbying, he also said ‘’There is no such thing as world language, there is the language of those who direct global politics.’’ And ended his speech, letting the next speaker, Rasıh Reşat proceed.

Journalist, and Kıbrıs Postası (Cyprus Post) Publishing Editor Rasıh Reşat said, ‘’International affairs or diplomacy exist so that we can increase our interests without war. There is such a thing called CNN effect. Media was used to justify their next move after 12 September attacks by making the American people want war. Countries use media to direct their interests without declaring wars. On the other hand, there is war through media. A great example to this is foreign media being in the Taksim Square 48 hours before Gezi Protests. In the manner of International affairs, media is a gun that doesn’t require gunpowder. As it can be used to prevent wars, it can also be used to trigger them.’’. While expressing the importance of media as a decisive tool for public opinion with these words, he also stated that this decisive tool can also start or end wars.

At the end of the panel that took place with valuable views of the speakers, questions from the students were answered. The panel that became even more valuable with the question-answer phase, became very additive to the GAU students. GAU Rector Professor Doctor Kutsal Öztürk, offered a memorial plate to Minister of Work and Social Security Zeki Çeler for his contribution and speech for the panel. Dean Deputy of Faculty of Communications Assistant Professor Doctor Remziye Terkan and Dean of Faculty of Political Sciences Professor Doctor Aykut Toros offered the plates to the speakers for their contribution. The panel that was concluded after the plate and memorial offering and the photo shoot with the speakers, received great interest and many wishes for faculties to create more events with such cooperation.