EUROOTS Meeting

Batman (Turkey)

31stof January– 4th of February

The fourth meeting of the EURoutes: European Traditions towards Active Citizenship and a Strengthen Cultural Integration program (11/0029-G/ 1137) was held in Batman (Turkey) between the 31stof January and 3rd of February 2013.

At the meeting the following partners took part:

1. Mesleki Eğitim ve İstihdam Merkezi Derneği, Turkey

2. Federación de Trabajadores de la Ensenanza de la Unión General de Trabajadores del País Valencia, Spain

3. Language Link Ltd., The United Kingdom of Great-Britain

4. Escola Secundária de Vilela, Portugal

5. Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

On behalf of the Corvinus University of Budapest Lászlóné Kőszegi, Enikő Kissné Békássy as staff people and Krisztina Albert as learner represented the Hungarian participant.

  1. day: 31st of January

After arrivingin the night of the previous day, in the second evening the welcome dinner has been held in a famous local restaurant. On the welcome dinner a learner and a staff took part on behalf of the British participant, 2 staff person on behalf of the Portuguese participant, 1 learner and 2 staff person on behalf of the Hungarian partner and several staff from the Turkish organizer. After the traditional dinner we visited a local café, in the region of oil fields in Batman (Petrol-Café).

  1. day: 1st of February
  2. On the second day the workmeeting was held at EML meeting hall (in Batman). On this meeting a presentation was held by Mehmet Akif Kaya about the city, the region of Batman and about the program of the next days. In the coffee break we could taste the traditional Turkish coffee and tea and some sweets.
  3. After the break the following interesting presentations were held by the other partners about their own traditions. The topic of the Hungarian partner’s presentation was the Hungarian Santa Claus day (6th of Dec.). In Hungary, Santa Claus comes at night before the 6th December (the day of Saint Nicholas according to the Catholic calendar) and brings some gifts to the children. When they wake up the following morning, they can find these presents in the windows of their rooms and in their shoes. Most of the time they only get sweets, fruit and smaller presents, because they receive the more expensive gifts at Christmas. Traditionally, if they were good they get presents and if they were bad they get virgács (a bunch of twigs to beat them up). Usually they get both, but nowadays golden virgács is only a symbolic object (meaning punishment).
  4. The Portuguese partner takes the common website creator role; the contact person is Albino Pereira. The website was also presented at the meeting.
  5. We evaluated the previous visits. There was a discussion held on the current status of the project, on the new ideas that can contribute to the project.
  6. At the end of the meeting there was a transmission of the certificates
  7. In the afternoon we visitedthe Batman Directorship of National Education.
  8. In the evening we visiteda local traditional wedding ceremony in a wedding hall.
  9. day: 2nd of February
  10. Next day a whole day bus excursion to the close historical tourist attractions was planned.We were lucky enough to visit Hasankeyf in Batman province of Turkey. Hasankeyf is designated a world heritage site and is a beautiful and amazing place to visit.Hasankeyf is situated on a tributary of the Tigris river and is one of the earliest centres of civilisation in the world as well as being a historic centre for later kingdoms, religions and trade routes.
  11. The next stop was Midyat, where we visited the Monastery of Mor Gabriel. The ancient city of Midyat is the epicenter of a centuries-old Christian Syriac/Aramean enclave in Southeast-Turkey, widely familiar under its Aramaic name Tur-'Abdin.
  12. The last stop was Mardin. Mardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris River that rises steeply over the flat plains. Late in the afternoon we returned to Batman.
  1. day: 3rd of February

Departure from the city of Batman.