m a g a z i n etheDreger.magazine

০ Interview with the President! ০ About Istanbul ০ Teambuilding:We all need to play ০ Topic preparation ০

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the 17h May 2011

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EDITORIAL

Dear all, welcome to the Istanbul Youth Forum! The Dreger Magazine, as one of the session newspapers, will try to provide a platform for exchaning knowledge, experienece and differ-ent points of view. Appart from the Press Team, every par-ticipant of the session is invited to contribute; both with ideas or articles, by approaching the Press Room or submit-ting the article to iyfpressteam@eypturkey.org. InthisissueyoucanfindoutmoreaboutIstanbul,Jonas Dreger, the President of the session, as well as ar-ticles relevant to the topics at the session and much more. So for now, enjoy the session and try to make the most of it.

Sandra&Didrik

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Content

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Istanbul; The City of a Hundred Names3The 4TH United Nations Conference on the least de-veloped countries

5Head Organizers6High expectations8 Teamuilding; We all have to play9 It’s the future everybody!11 The Industrial choice is up to us12 Global challenge-European answers13 Painting Europe, Painting China –A Family Portrait

15 Northern Africa is Europe’s problem, not USA’s.16 Not a Member State yet?17 Live together, die alone?18 Europe: a hell within a paradise19 Quiz20 The start of something new21

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ISTANBUL The City of a Hundred Names

Istanbul is also known as “the city of a hun-dred names” and Lygos, Byzantium, Au-gusta Antonina, New Rome, Constantinople,

Kostantiniyye, Stamboul, Islambol, Dersaadet, Derâliye, Bâb-ı Âlî, Pâyitaht and Asitane are the most popular ones. Hundreds of its names came from many different languages since there were plenty of different nations and cultures that lived and developed in Istanbul through-out history. Its names give a lot of clues about Istanbul’s history. Firstly Lygos and Byzantium were the home place for Byzas. Then the name Augusta Antonina was given after a Roman Em-peror; New Rome was also used during the rule of the Roman Empire. In 330, Constantine de-clared the city as the capital of the entire Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople. Then came The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and Constantinople also became the center of the Greek Orthodox Church. There was also an intervention of The Latin Catholic Empire be-tween 1204-1261, but then it was returned to the Byzantine Empire. Finally in 1453 it got the names Konstantiniyye and Istanbul after the Ot-toman Empire conquered the beautiful city of Constantinople. The Istanbul that you arrive to today has belonged to Turkey since 1923, with many historical areas added to the UNESCO World Heritage list and also the European Capi-tal of Culture for 2010. Istanbul and Constantinople are the names that are used today; actually there is a conflict going on about the usage of the name Constantinople. However, Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon wrote the song “Istanbul(Not Constan-tinople)” that implies to this conflict which began after the rule of the Ottoman Empire started.

Todays cosmopolit Istanbul is a result of all those varying empires and cultures that once ruled it. You feel like you are in an Arabic coun-try while you are walking in the old city between the bazaars and the mosques, which we think you are all familiar with thanks to the movies. On the other hand, you can also feel like you are in Europe if you go to Taksim or Nişantaşı, the new city. After all that boring history background, let’s talk about the fun in Istanbul! All you need is a few tips about where to go and what to do. Firstly, if you want to go ahead and learn Turk-ish culture better your place is Sultanahmet, the old city. You can visit the Blue Mosque, the Otto-man Palace, also the legendary Harem with all its fun and the sultan’s women, and also Hagia Sophia. However if you want to drink and have fun, Taksim is the right place to go where you can try weird shots like “brain tumor”! Fancy night clubs like Ulus 29, Anjelique and Reina, all with a Bosphorus view, can be considered, too. But our favourite is “Al Jamaal”, a restaurant and a night club mixed with its concept of oriental culture, where you can dance with the belly dancers and eat Turkish delights which which are proven aphrodisiacs! For the ones who would like to shop until you drop, İstinye Park is heaven where you can find every brand, from Zara to Armani. Bosphorus tours, laser tag, din-ner near Bosphorus, attending concerts or art exhibitons are other options. You can literally do anything you want in Istabul! �

by Ceren Hazar&Deniz Ertan3

Welcome to Istanbul, the city of two continents; the bridge between Asia and Europe! It’s so hard for us to talk about the first impressions off the city, since we’ve lived here for a long time and gotten used to it, but we presume that you all will find it beautiful with the wonderful view of Bosphorus, dirty and a tough place to survive with its 13 million inhabitants and its 68000 cars in traffic.

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Some interesting facts about Istanbul:-Istanbul is the only city in the world which spans two continents.-The Golden Horn is not the stretch of water which divides Europe from Asia, a common misconception. -Istanbul has been the capital of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, yet it isn’t the capital city of modern Turkey, which is Ankara. Istanbul is however the largest city in Tur-key.-When the city was part of the Ottoman Empire there were over 1,400 public toilets all around the city. At the same time, there weren’t even toilets at palaces in France and the rest of Europe.-The vendors in Grand Bazaar can speak at least 10 different languages in basic level; enough to sell you the things you didn’t even want to buy a few minutes ago!-Istanbul was once ruled by a freak sultan who built the Maiden’s Tower in the middle of the sea just because a fortune teller told him that his daughter will be killed by a snake and made his daughter live there for many years until she was bitten by the poisonous snake that came out of the fruit basket!

That’s it from us, now it’s your time to discover Istanbul.4

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THE 4TH UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

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A decade after the 3rd UN-Least Developed Countries Conference in Brussels, 5-day-long 4th UN-Least Developed Countries Conference took place in Istanbul last week. Head of states, CEOs, leaders of civil societies, parliamentarians, and scholars gathered to discuss different ways to help the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in total around 900 million people. The conference aims to analyze the results of the 10-year Brussels Programme of Action, to tackle newly emerged problems and take advantage of new opportunities.

What makes a country one of the least developed? The criteria take into account social, political and economical development of the countries. If a country has extensive political corruption, hostility between its ethnic groups, economic vulnerability and extreme poverty, it may be on the LDC list. However, one selection criterion draws the line: the average annual in-come per person. In these countries, around 75% of the population is below the poverty level. Although monarchy, AIDS (especially a major problem), and social turmoil are common characteristics for LDCs, they don’t apply to most LDCs in Ocea-nia like Kiribati, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 1971, only 3 LDCs (Botswana, Cape Verde, Maldives) have graduated but the ambitious goals for this decade is to cut down the number of the LDC to half. What did some ten thousand guests do at the conference? There were several tracks they could follow. When in intergovernmental track and parliamentarian track, political issues were de-bated among people who have political power, Civil Society track, Private Sector track, and Ac-ademia track offered different perspectives to the whole debate. In conjunction with the Civil Society track, The Civil Society Forum was held. Civil Society foundations like LDCs Watch have tracked the results of the Brussels Programme of Action during the 10 year period. The Private Sector has always been an important part of these conferences. Businessmen have been dis-cussing Fair Trade and paving the way for new deals between LDC and non-LDC companies.

The last and the newest track, Academia has been implemented to invite voices of the schol-ars on these difficult issues. It is not charity! Many leaders had a similar message: Investing in LDC is also in the benefit of their country. There are several reasons for it. Firstly, the immense young population creates a huge workforce. Investments would increase the job opportunities in LDCs and the profit of the in-vestor country. Secondly, extreme poverty and political turmoil in LDCs pose a threat to the rest of the world. It is not likely for a developed country to be safe, if it doesn’t help the LDCs and lets the poverty and turmoil get out of control. General Secretary of Ban Ki-Moon states that in the recent years the economies of Bra-zil, China and India has expanded rapidly. These countries can also be partners with LDCs and form a South Cooperation. �

by Lara BideyanAs Nelson Mandela remarked on be-coming president: ‘’After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.’’” “The Unit-ed Nations is com-mitted to climbing these hills along-side you,” Mr. Ban added.

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Damla, 19 already has a lot of experience: she started EYP in Rotterdam in Febru-ary 2009 and is also an experienced or-

ganiser, as she put together two community in-volvement projects before. Although they were not as big as the IYF, they served as try-outs which make leading and managing the work of a group a lot easier. She describes herself more like a friend rather than the boss for the orga team and sha has an excellent vision of the team: “I always tried to give the message that they can trust me but they also should make me trust them.” When you ask Damla what she has in common with Ekin, you quickly understand that they are similar, “You may not believe me but sometimes we simultaneously say the same thing or write the exact same sentence on sky-pe. We are both very responsible and altruistic. It helped a lot to save time and decide quickly while organizing. I’m very lucky to have her in my team. She is everything and much more than a head orga”, she said. Same as any other HO, Damla also remembers her ups and downs of the preparation time. A massive increase in the session budget went down as her favourite mo-ments, while leaving Istanbul for a while to go back home was really hard for her. Someone else, who has literally been dreaming about this session ever since she had her first experiences as an organiser, is 18 year old deputy HO Ekin. The commitment behind this is best described in her own words: “ordi-nary irritates me”. As you can imagine, the huge

task of putting together this event combined with her perfectionism was quite a distraction. Whoever is going to receive her AP exam papers for correction will most probably find numer-ous to-do lists doodled on the side. For any ordi-nary head organiser this devotion to the project would sound vastly overstated but for Ekin, it is a test run for what she might make her profes-sion. Back in 2008 this artistic girl started off like most of us, at a NSC. Since then, she has tried herself in various positions, making friends for life along the way. One of these people, who she carries close to her heart, is fellow head organ-iser Damla, who she has loved for almost two years now. Another thing that needed to be squeezed out of the girls was some inside in-formation on what to expect from the session. When Ekin revealed a story about return-ing from her USA trip with a suitcase entirely packed with plastic cups and straws in all forms, colours and sizes, we were deeply confused. She refused however to tell us more about that and simply mentioned that we are bound to find out the purpose of it soon enough. Highlights of the stay are definitely the cruise and the mas-sive speed-dating session before the theme party. Furthermore, the most beautiful venue of the session was said to be Robert College – we checked that and as it turns out, you have a view of the Bosporus even from the toilets! �

by Teresa Stadler&Malvina Richer

Ekin and Damla have worked hard since the beginning of the forum. The two Head Organizers have created the session from scratch, step by step, day by day. They also managed an entire team of organisers, who all contrib-ute to bringing the forum to its full potential. Who are these two young ladies full of energy and humour who are the driving force of the long-awaited 6th Interna-tional Youth Forum? Between all their e-mailing and calling they donated us some of their precious time, to provide the answers.

Head organizers

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“I don’t see myself as a driving force, I will be there for the ones that need me to unleash all the great potentials around. ”

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High Expectations

When asked for his expectations for the session Jonas overwhelmed us with a

list of verbs that described the session for him. Amongst others were the words ‘dynamic’, ‘in-tense’ and ‘social’. However the word that stuck with us was ‘interactive’. According to Jonas we will see the full extent of this word during the session. For instance Jonas himself is planning to meet and talk to as many of the participants as is possible. Not only will he himself do this, but he will also facilitate the chairs in doing the same by planning the chairs meetings in a way that the chairs will be free in the evenings to chat with all the participants. Another example of the interactive char-acter of the session can be found in the press-room; we will be releasing a paper in which everyone can contribute, every participant can submit an article to the paper and get it pub-lished. Finally he mentioned the ‘new horizons speeches’ that will be held during GA. Every person at the session will have the opportunity to speech for 3-5 minutes between debates. Ev-eryone, from the officials to the teachers to the delegates, is invited to do so. Another word Jonas brought up was ‘enjoyable’ which reminded us of the unoffi-cial theme of the session ‘Play’. Jonas himself thought of this theme as it is a perfect match with his vision on EYP. Jonas believes that EYP is play; when we participate in EYP we are fully submerged in the session. We tend to be more free from the pressure of the outside world and are generally able to be more ourselves during EYP. Jonas believes that such an experience is akin to the experiences we all had playing as children.

Since “president” of a session is a rather vague position in the eyes of most of the partici-pants, we asked Jonas what he’ll be doing dur-ing the session. He told us he wants to get rid of the mystery surrounding the presidential posi-tion and be approachable for everyone. In order to do this he won’t have his own committee to be able to meet everyone on equal grounds.Choosing not to chair a committee is quite an unconventional choice within EYP, therefore we asked Jonas how he sees himself in the role of president. “I don’t see myself as a driving force, I will be there for the ones that need me to un-leash all the great potentials around. It’s like dig-ging for gold, I will look around for the unused resources we can still use” He doesn’t think of himself as one of the most important people at the session, more as someone who connects all the different bits that chairs, organisers, jour-nalists and delegates offer. When asked how he feels about the city of Istanbul he told us he’s been there twice be-fore and that in his opinion “there are very few places better to host EYP, I certainly hope that the session will be very heavily impacted by Is-tanbul, Istanbul is one of the most fascinating places you could imagine. It is a melting pot of cultures and it is enormously rich in history.” Whilst speaking with Jonas, a man with a clear vision for this session, we became more and more excited for the session and are look-ing forward to seeing you all in Istanbul! �

by Boaz Manger&Laurens Kraima

Its 20.05, we are discussing the last questions, and then suddenly a pop-up: Jonas Dreger is online on Skype. Who is this mysterious man that will be presiding the 6th Istanbul Youth Forum? We figured we’d make him less mysterious by starting with the basic questions, but immediately noticed that this wouldn’t be as easy as we thought when the only answer we got after asking for his age was “younger than the teachers”. Though determined journalists as we are, we managed to find out that Jonas is 27 years old.

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TEAMBUILDING

Imagine a dozen strangers from all over a coun-try or even a continent gathering into a group

and starting to play funny active games that make them remember names and personalities, even games that make them work as a team. The result? They make friends, start to earn each others trust and cooperate. But let’s not forget the most important part: they have fun, they play like a bunch of kids and for a few hours, they feel like the world is their playground. Veronica: “My first encounter with EYP teambuilding was not a very pleasant one and some of you might have had that same feeling. One can wonder how singing about a big fat pony is going to help discussing problems in the Middle East. However, that first time when you all gather in your committees you are all strang-ers in a group. It would be rather odd, not to say horrifying, to try and work together for days without properly trusting, respecting and knowing each other.” Emma: “I remember my first teambuild-ing as a great experience, although, in the first minutes everything seemed really dumb. Danc-ing and screeming around were never things I wanted to do in public but then I realized that this is the best way to get rid of your inhibi-tions.” EYP teambuildings try to put in light the best of eachother by creating an environment in which you will never feel constrained or ignorated.

What are teambuilding exercises and what are their purposes? Teambuilding games are used to help develop delegates and their ability to work to-gether effectively. There are many types of team-building activities that range from silly games to games that involve complex tasks and are de-signed for specific needs. By using a variety of teambuilding exercises it will assist committees in becoming cohesive units of individuals that can effectively work together to complete tasks. A few concrete reasons for teambuild-ing are that they can improve communication, help with getting to know everyone, help del-egates to learn more about themselves, improve team productivity, identifying and utilizing the strength of delegates and practice effective col-laboration with delegates.

What are the different types of team-building games and what do they serve?Name Games You look at all the delegates in your committee and you feel that it will be impos-sible to memorize all their names. Name games guarantee that not only you will successfully memorize their names but you will also know a part of their personalities.Communication Exercise Communication exercises are problem solving activities that are geared towards im-proving communication skills. The issues com-

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We all need t o play

mittees encounter in these exercises are solved by communicating effectively with each other. The goal is to create an activity which highlights the importance of good communication in com-mittee performance and/or potential problems with communication.Problem Solving Exercise Problem Solving exercises focus specifi-cally on committees working together to solve difficult problems or make complex decisions. The goal of this type of game is to give a com-mittee a problem that is not easily solved and requires the committee to come up with a cre-ative solution. This is a perfect preview for the committee work. Planning Exercise These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being adaptable to change. These are important things for committees to be able to do when they are assigned complex tasks or decisions. The goal here is to show the impor-tance of planning before implementing a solu-tion.Trust Exercise A trust exercise involves engaging del-egates in a way that will induce trust between eachother. These exercises are not surprisingly created to develop trust between team members.Energizers It is sometimes crucial to do a quick ex-ercise to refocus everyone during committee work. Due to late nights it is not unusual to see

some pale faces and energizers are a quick but effective way to get your pulse going again.

MOTHERLY ADVICE:Don’t dress up and try to look all nice and cool cause you’re clothes will get dirty after just a few games. No one screams or says “honey, tell me that you love me” to a total stranger in an ordinary day, so try to take advantage of the funny things that you can do on the teambuilding and don’t get shy. Beauti-ful friendships had bound on the teambuild-ing field - socialize with all the members of the group. Our final words to you all is to embrace the teambuilding exercises because not only will you gain a lot for the purpose of your commit-tee but this is also the time when you can make some great EYP friends. I also strongly recom-mend that you start out with a hearty breakfast and apply sunscreen. No burn victims please! �

by Veronica Moitus&Emma Nita

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Human society has conquered the planet earth. There are very few places you cannot find or see traces of humanity on this beautifully multico-loured globe and those few secrets that still al-lude us I have no doubt will soon be discovered. We’ve even stepped on the moon and touched the surface of farther planets with our probes. None of these achievements would have been possible without the wonderfully versatile hu-man mind and this exquisite and infinitesimally imaginative tool has created for us our saving grace, the thing which has allowed us to ad-vance so far in, around and outside of our own world, which is of course technology. As all things in this universe technology needs powers, it needs energy. We must eat to live and so too must technology, be it in the form of a car, a rocket ship or an mp3 player, have a constant supply of energy in order to function. If you take a moment to look around you now you will probably be able to see a huge variety of items all of which require electricity or some other type of energy source to operate. This vast variety and multitude of energy consuming goods creates a huge demand for energy and this has become a problem for humanity. We thought we had struck gold when we discovered that burning fossil fuels could produce huge amounts of energy. We were not however so keen to look at the environmental repercussions of our actions and it has now be-come clear, with the amount of fossil fuels dwin-dling and, when burnt, the damage their emis-sions cause to our atmosphere, that they shall play an ever decreasing role in the future of the human race. But if not fossil fuels than what? We still have the same hunger for energy which means

that we simply have to find another source from which we can draw our power. The source of this power can be seen in the plain light of day. I am of course talking about the sun. So-lar power and by extension renewable energy is an energy source with infinitesimal produc-tion potential, we can literally harness nature to fuel our society. Another prospective energy source is invisible to us but ever present in our lives. We are made up of teeny tiny sub atomic particles which treated correctly can yield fero-cious amounts of energy. Nuclear energy repre-sents one of the most advanced breakthroughs in humanities recent history. Utilised correctly it could put an end to our energy crisis it is how-ever, as nearly everyone is aware, not without its dangerous drawbacks. So with renewable and nuclear energy sources developed and ready to go I can imag-ine you would ask why have they not already been installed and put in place? Unfortunately as brilliant and ingenuitive as humanity is we are equally as stubborn. We are resistant to change and changing a system which has helped to make us rich and powerful seems like a silly idea. This mentality must of course change be-fore we can progress but as fossil fuels run out we see nations become more and more con-trived as too holding out energy resources from other nations and as such we see the issue spill over into political feilds. Change is never easy but is often well worth the effort. Humanity now stands at a crossroads. We can either continue along the path we have been going or we can change di-rection towards a brighter and more energetic future.�

by Eoin Rogers

That’s right the future is just around the corner and guess what’s on the agenda; energy! Since the beginning of time energy has played a vital role in shaping the universe as we know it. The Big Bang is of course evidence of this, the universe born into existence in a wonderful flurry of explosive energy creating everything we have ever seen in our whole lives. Billions of years on energy is still playing a pivotal role in shaping our world.

It’s the future everybody!

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Have you ever wondered what led Western Europe into being characterized as the

birthplace of modern industry? Is it the great scientists who want to use the new technologies for the sake of projects or is there another, inner and different, incentive? I would argue the sec-ond, which also explains the reason why the in-dustrial development is always a very contem-porary topic. Everything is based on economy and the EU tries to maintain its leading place on the international financial stage. According to Alberto Cammarata, official of the EU Delega-tion of Serbia, by raising the competitiveness of its industry and investing on modern technol-ogy, the EU will not only set the foundation for a promising future, but will also be able to find a way out of the economic crisis and secure sus-tainable development. However, not all businesses and indus-tries meet the criteria to compose a competi-tive ground. First of all, we need to clarify what we mean by the term ‘competitive industry’. In economic theory, perfect competition de-scribes markets such that no participants are large enough to have the market power set the price of a homogeneous product. Because the conditions for a perfect competition are strict, there are few if any perfectly competitive mar-kets and respectively few perfectly competitive industries. Hence, perfect competition cur-rently serves as a benchmark against which to measure real-life and imperfectly competi-tive industries. Consequently, according to the EU 2030 Industrial Framework, the goal is not to make perfectly competitive industries but manage to have as many industries as possible, which will be powerful enough to approximate the above-mentioned concept. Due to the economic crisis, Europe may be losing ground to other markets in terms of growth figures. New dynamic and competitive

players are emerging such as Brazil, Russia, India and China and this process risks shifting production away from Europe and diminishing or even reversing the EU’s competitive edge. However, rather than allowing industry to dis-appear from Europe, we need to modernize it and make it more environmentally friendly. We need to realize that the European industry is still globally competitive and a leader in a great number of markets. Thus, investors should be encouraged to invest in new and innovative technologies such as biomimicry, nanotechnol-ogy and biomechanics. It’s worth being men-tioned though, that not every single industry needs renovation and that even without more funding of Research and Development, there are still some European industries which can maintain their place as global leaders. A great example is set by the European tourism indus-try, which is not only the most competitive in the international scene, but also has a lot of po-tential for development and growth after 2030. At the moment, in order to promote a successful industrial policy and ensure a strong future, the European Commission has set out a wide rang-ing strategy that aims to maintain and support a feasible, diversified and competitive industrial base in Europe. This industrial base will play an important role in meeting crucial objectives for the European economy, such as creating new jobs and promoting sustainable growth. It will also enable the industries to increase produc-tion without consuming more resources and energy or emitting more greenhouse gases. This way, industry will deliver the technologies needed to tackle climate change, sustainable mobility, management of scarce resources and demographic change.�

by Lavrentia Christodoulou

The Industrial choice is up to usSetting up the workbench of the European future bearing in mind grand visions, past choices and resource scarcity: Which industries will ensure our competitiveness from 2030 onward and how can the European Union best support them?

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EuropEans havE had a dEfining influEncE on thE world for cEnturiEs – for bEttEr and for worsE. thE world as wE know it today bEars thE footprints of EuropEans. not all of thEm arE positivE: it was EuropEans who brought colo-nialism and world wars onto thE world. yEt, it was also EuropEans who offErEd solutions to thE prEssing global problEms of thEir timEs: how to Establish a fair sociEty? how to EnsurE partici-pation of citizEns? how to rEgulatE crimE, tradE and civil intEractions? how to producE Enough for a growing population? how to tacklE thE in-EqualitiEs inhErEnt in capitalist sociEtiEs? how to curE disEasEs? Europeanideashavehadan influenceontheworldthatishardtounderestimate:TheFrenchrevolution brought an end to the feudal system as we know it and established the idea that men are endowedwithequalrights.TheNapoleoniccodecivilandtheGermancivilcodehavesetthestan-dard for law systems inAfrica, theArab world,LatinAmericaandJapan.TheideaofanationisaEuropeanconceptthatwasimposedontoAfricaby the colonial powers. Capitalism, as it definestoday’sworld, finds someof its roots in theEu-ropean-led industrial revolution. The stock mar-kets have been developed in France, Belgium,theNetherlands,Italy,GermanyandtheUK.TheGerman thinkersMarxandEngelsweredefiningfigures,whichdevelopedacriticismofcapitalismthatheavilyinfluencedsocialism.Yet,itisnotonlyideas but also technological progress that madeEurope so influential. Take only the beginningof the last century: thefirstNoblePrizes award-edwent in largeparts toEuropeans:DiscoveriesmadebyGermans,Brits,andDanespavedthewaytocuring tetanus, tuberculosis,malariaand treat-

ingcancer.AFrench-Polishcollaborationlaidthefoundation for the development of a new form of energyproduction–nuclearenergy. Atthesametime,theEuropeananswersofthepasthavealsocreatedmanyoftheglobalchal-lenges of today: The industrial revolution led to environmentalpollutionandclimatechange.Co-lonialismspurredethnicandnationalconflictsandis partly responsible for the poverty in our world. NuclearenergyledtoHiroshimaandFukushima.The stockmarkets have destroyed globalwealthagain and again when its bubbles burst. Itisinthistime,thatEuropehasalsolostits dominance over theworld. It is not anymoreEuropeanfleetsthatsailanddominatetheseas,itisnotnecessarilyEuropeanproducts thatarede-fining thepaceof technologicalprogressand theappeal of European ideas is vanishing. Emerging powerssuchasChina,IndiaorBrazilarechang-ing the face of theworld and of its governance.Consequently,theworldinstitutionsarediscussingreformstobetterreflectthenewglobalbalanceofpower. Europe has united to form a single market thatcovers500millionpeople–theworld’slargesteconomicentity.Andyet,whileitisaneconomicgiant, it is only one political andmilitary playeramong many. This is the world our generation has beenborninto.Thetectonicplatesofpowersareshifting,andEuropeisnotanymoreabletoimposeitspreferencesuponothercountries.And this isour time. In thenot-so-distant future,the older generations will hand the world over to us. A world that is beautiful in its possibilities: mil-lions of people are lifted out of poverty with the rise oftheemergingpowers,theArabworldislongingfordemocracyandtheworldstartstotackleprob-lems of climate change and energy scarcity.Yet,thisworldisstillinpain:poverty,environmental

by Jonas Dreger

Global challenges – European answers

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destruction,inequalities,marredwithviolentcon-flicts, scarceof resourcesandwithpoordecisioncapacities.Theglobalchallengesaremanifold,andmanyofthemareurgent,complexandinterdepen-dent.Mostof thosechallengesshare twodistinctcharacteristics:theyaregrowingoldwiththepeo-plethataresupposedtosolvethem,andtheyimplyanarrayofopportunities.Thedecision-makersoftodaydotoolittletoaddresstheglobalchallengesof our times as issues begging for solutions. Wewillinherittheglobalchallenges.Willwebeprepared?Canweseethesolution?Canweturnproblemsintoopportunities?Itisthetaskofourgenerationtousethedistancetothoseproblemswestillhaveandtofindanswerstothosequestionsthatwillbeleftforustosolve.Wecanalreadystartnow.Sothatonceourtimehascome,wearearmedwith ideas.Wewillnotcomeempty-handed,norempty-minded.InthenewworldwhereEuropeansneedtoconvincetheirpartnersinsteadofimposingthemselves on them,wewillmake a compellingcase.Forideasandsolutionsalwaysfindtheirway.Wewillbesharp,creative,smart.WewillbetheEuropeananswerstoglobalchallenges.�

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The divorced mother, the EU. The European Union currently has no common approach

towards China. While some favour trade with China regardless of its human rights violations and its neglection for a democratic government, others want to abstain from such “uncondition-al interaction” and set conditions for trade, like e.g. freedom of expression and speech granted.The father who does not pay for his children, China itself. It is an autocratic regime with strong and influential leaders and companies at the top of the country. China does not know any borders to its human rights violations and sov-ereignty beyond any criticism. It however de-pends on its divorced wife, Europe, namely on its markets for exported goods, who in return does not know how to handle this string of af-fection. The Granny, The Renmibi. China’s cur-rency. China devaluates its currency, meaning holding it artificially low so their export goods are cheaper on the world market than the ones from other economies. In return, goods import-ed to China are more expensive than domestic Chinese goods and are therefore less consumed by the Chinese population. Granny’s hands are the ones that pull the strings in the background. By doing so, China is harming the global world

economy, some people even compare it to a bubble-like dilemma. As we all know, bubbles burst! The weeping daughter, The USA. The re-lationship with China is strained since the global financial crisis of 2008 as China is on the verge of surpassing the biggest world economy. Need-less to say, this gives space for the EU to voice its interests and take advantage of the cracking bond between the far West and the far East.The gossiping neighbour. China’s neighbouring states are suspicious and envy China’s high GDP and exports – who knows what they are plant-ing in their gardens?

How do the family members position themselves for a harmonic picture? Which com-binations are possible and realistic? Over all, how dependent is the EU on China’s markets and what are its interests? Even though we are an idealistic society, a family reunion seems dis-tant and still the question of how the divorced mother can get her leverage over the not paying husband back is of crucial importance. �

Taking into consideration the importance of Chinese export goods and the necessity for mutual trade, it is of great difficulty for the EU to find a common standpoint to China. Painting a family picture, the following family members of a China-EU trading grid need to have a place right at the core:

by Schima Labitsch

Painting Europe, Painting China –A Family Portrait

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Public concern about intervention in Libyais hardly relieved by the impression that no-

bodyappears tobe takingultimatechargeof themission.Thediplomatic impulse foractioncamefromFranceandtheUK;theUSwas,aftersomedelay, recruited as a key advocate. Most of themilitaryassetsbeingusedintheoperationscomefrommembersofNATO,whiletheArabLeagueismainlyprovidingdiplomaticsupportandhardwarein the form of Emirian and Qatari military jets. The imperativeofhaltingGaddafisassaultonBenghazimeantthatitwasincumbenttoshootmissilesfistand ask organizational questions later.Yet, thosequeriesquicklyreassertedthemselvesand,almostasquickly,ledtodisagreementamongstanti-Gad-dafiallies. TheUSdoesnot intend to take the lead-ing role,preferringNATOEuropeanmembers toconduct the conflict along their Mediterraneanflank.That idea thencame to a standstill, due tothe disagreement between France and Turkey,which share different views on what should behappeninginLibya.Parisdesiresmaximumfree-domtointerprettheUNmandateforintervention,whileAnkaraismorecircumspectandsuspiciousofacreepingescalationofNATOinvolvementinMENA (MiddleEast andNorthernAfrica) .TheBritishviewseemstobemainlyexpressedinsurlywhispersofdisappointmentthattheAmericansarenotmore engaged and the Italian government ismorefocusedonsordidhomeaffairsthanonLiby-anagenda.NovoiceisheardfromBerlineither.Until now, the significance of these divergencesshouldnot beoverestimates.But theydo exposefaultlinesthatwillbecomemoredangerousiftheLibyan operation protracts. It also reveals howdisorderly the strategic dialogue can be amongEUMemberStateswhentheUSdoesnotchairit.There are many reasons that push Washington to

be a semi-detached partner.American troops areheavily committed in Afghanistan. Public opin-ionintheUSisnotremotelypreparedforacam-paignagainstGaddafi.TheWhiteHousehaslittlecausetoagitateforaregimechangeinTripoli.Mr.Obamamayplausiblyhaveresolved,asindeedheappears, that thisparticularMENArebellionwasnothisfight.Analternativepointofview is thatPresidentObama,forobviousreason,weighedhiscountry’s interest carefully before committing toanotherhazardousmilitaryinterventioninanArabcountry.Havingagreedtogetinvolved,hemighthaveconcludedthatanentirelyAmericanbannerdraped over the operation would make it harder to gainsupportintheArabworld,andtherebyhinderthechancesofsuccess. The logicof thisconflictpoints toapre-dominant European operation. Tripoli is a short boat ride away from the border of the EU. It isthousandsofkilometersawayfromtheUS.Histor-icallyandeconomically,LibyaiswithinEurope’sbackyard.The idea of amore assertive commonforeignpolicyhasbeentheambitionofanumberofEuropeanleadersinrecentyears.Itwasoneofthe pillars behind theLisbon treaty,which cameintoeffectlastyear.Nonetheless,thoseambitionshavelookedterriblynaiveasasocialandpoliticalconflagrationhasoccurredthroughMENAregion.TheUS is lookingwearyofpatrolling theworldand,rightlyorwrongly,feelsravenousofgratitudewhenitdoes.NATOwilltakecommandinLibya,thereforetheUSkeepsonhavingamajorroleinmilitaryoperations.Butthelessonisclear:what-everhappensnextinNorthAfricaisEuropesprob-lem.�

Commissions are sometimes the fairest way to adopt policies; seldom, if ever, are they the most effective. As a system for conducting military campaign, their shortcomings are evident.

by Andrea Stagni

Northern Africa is Europe’s problem, not USA’s.

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Turkey has been trying to enter the European Union since 1987, and it does not look like the negotia-tions will be successfully closed in the next ten or fifteen years. Blame it on the reforms needed in Turkey, demanded by the Copenhagen crite-ria? Or maybe blame it on the European skep-ticism that does not want Turkey as a Member State? The Copenhagen criteria, approved by the Council in 1999, requires that all candidate countries, in order to join the EU, must respect human rights and the rule of law, have a work-ing economy market, and be able to assume all the duties and objectives of the Acquis Commu-nautaire, the total body of EU law. Since Turkey first applied, it has been proved that major reforms have been taken in order to fulfill those criteria. It is true that the conflicts with Greece and Cyprus are still to be solved. But it is also true that the European Commission has recognised the strength of the Turkish economy and has congratulated Turkey for holding free and fair local elections. Howev-er, negotiations for the accession have been put on hold and the last moves were done in June 2010. By then, only 13 out of the 35 chapters

of the Acquis Communautaire were opened and only one of them (Science and research) was successfully closed. Inside the EU, the other side of the nego-tiations, not all the Member States agree on the entrance of Turkey in the EU. Whilst Cameron (UK), Berlusconi (Italy) and Zapatero (Spain) have positioned their countries in favour of the accession, other strong European leaders such as Sarkozy (France) or Merkel (Germany) con-tinue opposing the entrance of Turkey. The con-cern of losing power in decision making – with Turkey having potentially the same amount of votes in the Council as Germany - and the re-ligious question – the endless debate of the Christian roots and values of the EU - seem to be the arguments behind these decisions. Which is the real reason why Turkey is not a Member State yet? Is it really that far away from the ‘European standards’? Or is it the Eu-ropeans that do not want to open their borders to Turkey? Do the conflicts with Greece and Cy-prus prevent Turkey to enter the EU forever? Blame it on… �

by Pablo Mellado

Not a Member State yet?

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When the euro was introduced in 1999, it seemed like a flawless idea. A shared cur-

rency meant shared monetary policies and it was a crucial step that the EU took in order to establish the perfect unification. And it kind of worked, too; after 12 years, 17 member states are using it as their official currency. The eu-rozones population is now 329 million people, which is larger than the US. The euro is more valuable than the US Dollar and since its intro-duction, it has slowly been abolishing US Dol-lar’s monopoly in international trade. However, there’s a slight difference be-tween the eurozone and the US. In the US, the fiscal policies are decided by the central govern-ment and each state has to follow it no matter what. In the eurozone, on the other hand, each state has a unique economic structure so the unification in the fiscal policies are much hard-er to follow. Although the Stability and Growth Pact introduced unified fiscal criteria (e.g. bud-get deficit below 3% of the GDP, public debt be-low 60% of the GDP), the varied tax levels and difference in budget structures damaged the Euros stability and the eurozone faced an im-mense sovereign crisis in 2010, starting with Greece. It was time for the EU to take some in-novative measures. One of these measures was European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), which was established in May 2010. The rules were simple: any state facing a bail-out could request a rescue package from this mechanism as long as they implemented drastic austerity plans and followed the Stability and Growth Pact. But instead of solving the problem and preventing bail-outs, this mechanism’s goal was to supply a rescue plan to the states that were going through an economic downturn. The eurozones despair was proven to be true when Ireland and Portugal also requested a rescue package from the EFSM.

These rescue packages started heated debates in the EU. According to a poll by Re-uters, a majority of Germans want Greece to be expelled from the eurozone. Also, two-thirds of the German population opposed helping Greece in the first place. The Germans are not the only ones, too; after the elections in April 2011, the newly-elected Finnish government also stated that they opposed these rescue plans. Although the prime minister Jyrki Katainen calmed the fears of Portuguese Government later on by stating that they would not block the plans for helping the debt-ridden states of the eurozone, the debates are still going on in Finnish media. So, one can even say that these rescue plans are seperating the EU states instead of getting them closer to the ultimate unification. So one can’t help but ask questions at this point. How is the eurozone going to get over this mess? The taxpayers of the economi-cally stronger states are not happy with help-ing the states who are facing bail-outs. They put their own countries well-being in front of the eurozones well-being. How can the fiscal union be established when national interests are at stake? How can the economic integration be reached when even the causes of the crises differ in each state? What is the perfect balance between the sovereignity of member states and the unified economic governance? What mea-sures should be taken after all? Finally, there’s only one thing left to say: heated discussions are awaiting us in the next couple of days. We, for sure, can’t wait for the ideas that young and bright minds coming from all over the Europe can come up with on this very controversial subject. Good luck!�

by Joanna Kulpa&Anyl Eryilmaz

Live together, die alone?

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In 2003, Ssuuna Golooba arrives in the Nether-lands as an illegal immigrant. He went to Eu-

rope with ambitions to make it big, leaving his life as a renowned photojournalist in Uganda behind. The situation he ends up in is the com-plete opposite of what he expects. There are hardly any jobs for him, because hiring illegal immigrants is a crime. For the little work that is available, wages are paid in cash, leading to a situation in which employers refuse to pay after he has worked 12 hours straight because ‘they have no money right now’. Ssuuna sleeps on the floor and is unable to get medical treatment when he needs it. In the meantime, his family in Africa accuses him of keeping his European riches to himself, for they do not believe his sto-ries about the harsh conditions he is subject to in the ‘paradise called Europe’. Like Ssuuna, there are many people all around the world who dream of a better future. For us as Europeans, a quality life is part of our daily routine. However, in other countries our continent is considered a paradise, a world of unlimited opportunities and intangible riches. Those who live in the developing world desire better opportunities, and many expect to find them in Europe. As indicated by Ssuuna’s story, the real-ity that immigrants face is completely different from their expectations. On their trip to Europe, immigrants run into many challenges. Some end up putting their fate in the hands of human traf-fickers, others cross the Mediterranean sea on little boats which are not seaworthy. Living con-ditions are grim both during their trip and when they arrive in Europe, and many immigrants live a life which is not up to human rights-standards. European countries are unable and unwilling to accommodate every immigrant and their poli-cies are designed to make illegal immigrants cause the least amount of trouble and costs for the state.

One of the ways to reverse this trend is to improve the living conditions in the immi-grants’ home countries, which would make mi-gration a less attractive option. If there is a rela-tively high life standard in a developing country, there is less of a reason to look for a better fu-ture elsewhere. The EU acknowledges this, and has included it as one of its aims in European development policy. By setting up cooperation programmes with countries that have a large outflow of migrants to Europe, the EU hopes to improve living conditions and discourage peo-ple from taking the insecure trip to the EU. As the Committee on Development, we will discuss how the European Development Strategy has to be changed to be more effec-tive in tackling issues in those countries of de-parture. Which development approaches work, and which do not? Which countries should we target if we want to reduce the amount of im-migrants coming in through southern Europe? How can we cooperate with them to provide the best help for their specific situation? These are all questions which the committee will have to consider to effectively tackle the problem of de-velopment cooperation in relation to immigra-tion. For Ssuuna a new strategy comes too late, but he has found his own way to contribute. At the end of 2005, when 11 immigrants die in a fire at a detention center at Schiphol Airport, Ssuuna makes a decision. He starts working on what would later become the Surprising Europe project, through which Ssuuna and others try to provide a more realistic image of the fate of il-legal immigrants in Europe. Thereby, they hope to contribute to reducing preventing what hap-pened to them from happening to others. Their stories should serve as an inspiration for all of us to fight for a more effective development pol-icy! �

by Wim van Doorn

Europe: a hell within a paradise

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Each correct answer gives you a point.

1) An off-line attack differs from an on-line attack because:a. one does not need an Internet connection at all to commit the attackb. the majority of ’work’ is done off-line after one has acquired necessary password hashes on-linec. one is able to hack into a server from a specific control computer without an Internet connection

2) Stuxnet is:a. the name of a Windows computer worm discovered in 2010b. the on-line alias of the head hacker during the 2007 cyber attacks on Estoniac. the code name of a Syrian government-lead on-line attack against Facebook in 2011

3) What term is characterized as “important businesses and industries holding information which, if their cyber networks were successfully breached and disabled, could result in a threat to national security”?a. Critical Information Infrastructure (CII)b. European Network and Information Agency (ENISA)c. Information Assurance (IA) community

4) On June 7-10, 2011, where is the 3rd International Conference on Cyber Conflict going to be held?a. Copenhagen (Denmark)b. Debrecen (Hungary)c. Tallinn (Estonia)

5) What is the most important characteristic of a Chairperson? (bonus points)a. She’s tough but fair – the last ‘committee’ she was in charge of gave her a whip for a farewell presentb. She knows the ABCs of Estonian humour which almost never includes actual laughterc. She stopped going to professional hairdressers because they refuse to believe she’s a natural blonde

Answers:1) B2) A3) A4) C5) A, B and C

Results:

1 POINT – A weapon of mass disruptionYou only got that last one right, didn’t you? Make sure you read LIBE II’s resolution twice before raising your hand during GA. I would like your phone number, though – you seem to focus on the most important stuff at this forum.

2-4 POINTS – More ON than OFF the cyber wagonYou know that having ‘drowssap’ as your password is not a clever way to protect your e-mail account but you still might think Stuxnet was a kind of Subway sandwich they ate in the Death Star canteen with Eddie Izzard. Be sure to make approximately 4.537 friends from LIBE II before GA to enhance your level of cyber awesomeness.

5 POINTS – Coming over to the dark side of the firewall?Considering your score, there’s a good chance that you’re already in LIBE II. If not, would you like to be? Otherwise, we will be looking forward to your questions/attack speech during GA because you clearly have some clue of what LIBE II’s resolution is going to be about. We’ll be the best of frenemies. 20

quiz by Evelin Jürisson

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The 5th International Istanbul Youth Fo-rum last year was my first international EYP experience, and it was a week that I will hardly ever forget. Only three months earlier had I par-ticipated in the Swedish National Session, and I was unsure what to make of it or whether the organisation was anything I would like to get further involved with. In the end, I decided to give EYP a second chance at convincing me of its value. Looking back at a year with its ups and downs, being involved both locally, nationally and more internationally, I can honestly say that I have never felt more content with a decision I’ve made. The EYP journey of session president Jonas Dreger (DE) began in the Northern Ger-man city of Schwerin approximately ten years ago. It began when Jonas, who had been con-vinced to attend the event by a teacher who had seen his hunger for new input, new experiences and new challenges, stood utterly dumbfound-ed at the opportunity of meeting so many like minded people with great hearts and minds. Although his delegation was not selected to an International Session (IS), he was immediately and completely enthralled “with the inherent magic of EYP.” We’ve all had our first EYP experiences, some greater than others. However, for many of you, the Istanbul Youth Forum (IYF) will be the first International EYP event you attend. I would therefore like to congratulate you on the achievement of being chosen to attend the ses-sion, an event which will hopefully alter the way you look at the organisation and the way you approach life. Most EYP journeys have their own be-

ginnings, cross paths with other EYPers at vari-ous occasions and have mostly different end-ings. So what do the people travelling down the long and winding road have in common with each other? The answer to the question lies in why they have decided to undertake the jour-ney. “The reason why I carry on doing EYP is because it makes me a better person - I feel proud of myself, with every session I attend I ‘love’ myself even more,” says Head Organiser Ekin Arslan (TR) in a pre-session interview. “It has changed me drastically - I gained self con-fidence, self awareness, I found myself doing things I always dreamt of but never believed I had the courage to.” Ekin, whose international EYP journey began at the Olympic Forum in Greece in 2009, an event which inspired her “to get serious” with EYP, is not the only person who has seen her self-confidence rise after years in the organ-isation and who devotes her time to aiding the next generation of EYPers to feel comfortable in their “uncomfortable zones.” Editress Sandra Stojanovic (SP), whom you will most likely not see much of but whose hard work you will be enjoying everyday of the coming week, shares similar feelings and an interest to contribute to the organisation. “It made me feel good to be around oth-er people and feel like I am contributing,” she told me as a reply to a question about why she had decided to stay involved with EYP after her first few sessions. “Also I felt that there were some roles that I would definitely like to try.” Chairperson Wim van Doorn (NL), who has been in the organisation since his school

In mid May, a little over a year ago, I stood where you stand today, waiting for my second EYP session to begin, looking with mixed feelings of curiosity and nervousness at all the unknown faces in the crowd at Roberts College. Little did I know that all these people, in the week that was about to ensue, would have such a profound impact on my life.

The Start of Something New

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delegation was selected to the IS in Rennes in 2008, complements Sandra’s answer on want-ing to try different roles within the organisation after his first international experience. “It was only after the session I started to think about what I could do,” says Wim referring to the session in Rennes. “The role of the chair was very interesting to me, and I had a chance to become a chair at some smaller events in the Netherlands and from that point on slowly re-alised how many opportunities there are in EYP and what a great concept EYP is. With every ses-sion I become more motivated to get involved in the organisation.” What most EYP journeys have in com-mon now seems clear. A clear will to develop as a person, to aid other people with realising their strengths and capitalising on the opportunities the organisation provides as well as a clear will to explore every corner of Europe, meet new people with the same passion and hunger for knowledge, and a determination to try all the official positions at sessions around the conti-nent. So what advice do these experienced people have in store for you in order for you to make the most of the session, and to turn the spark that resides within you into a burning flame? “Dear Delegates Have Fun!” says sec-ond Head Organiser Damla Sevgi (TR). “Yes, this year’s IYF is one day longer but it’s still too short to take advantage of the amazing people around you, the beautiful campus of Robert College and sophisticated atmosphere of Istanbul, so please try to enjoy every minute, take every opportunity to make new friends and exchange experiences.”

Other officials give similar advice. They all tell you to give it your best, put your heart into it, and enjoy every aspect of the session while being open minded, listening to what oth-er people have to say and learn from the experi-ences you are about to have. “Life is a journey and there is no pre-dicting the outcome, the only thing you can control are your choices. They’ll define who you are. I would just hate to see you so focused on the problem right in front of you that you com-pletely miss the entire picture.” As I stood there at the Roberts College last year, I didn’t know what to make of EYP, but I decided to give it a shot. I gave it my heart, I opened up to what other people had to say and I gained friends with whom I shared one of the most amazing weeks of my life. It’s funny how one decision can have such a profound impact on one’s life. My last words of my advice before I check out are therefore, watch, listen and learn, but above all, stay true to yourself and who you are. �

by Felix Makarowski 22

Editor: Sandra Stojanovic, Sub-editor: Didrik Helsing;

Journalists: Boaz Manger, Veronica Moitus, Lara Bideyan, Laurens Kraima, Teresa Stadler, Deniz Ertan, Emma Nita, Felix Makarowski, Ceren Hazar, Malvina Richer.