International Family Symposium: Family Values and Global Threats

International Family Symposium Started

The International Family Symposium, organized for the 2nd time this year in collaboration with Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Gaziantep Family Academy, started with the opening event. The symposium, aimed at preserving and enhancing family values, informative works for family members, problem-solving approaches, and the establishment of family structures dominated by love and peace language, is organized at Gaziantep University Mavera Congress and Art Center in collaboration with Gaziantep Family Academy and Istanbul Family Foundation and will last for 3 days. The theme of this year’s symposium, which will be attended by nearly 100 distinguished academics from 15 different countries, is determined as “Family Against Global Threats.”

Highlights from the Opening Program

As part of the events of the “International Family Week” declared by the United Nations (UN), 2024 was announced as the “Year of the Family,” Ağile and Social Services Deputy Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran also attended the symposium held in Gaziantep. It was stated that a total of 21 sessions will be held at the symposium, where the concept of family will be discussed from every aspect.

Mayor of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Fatma Şahin emphasized the necessity of educating young people by knowing and embracing their values to ensure family peace, stating, “We need to eliminate all the negative feelings in our hearts. In a family, women and men should treat each other well and be trustworthy. If we want to protect the family and carry it into the future, we must start with ourselves. Working centered around the family is the way to make this city strong and peaceful. We are taking care of this trust,” she said.

President of Istanbul Family Foundation Ali Rıza Arslan provided information about the services provided by the foundation in his speech, stating, “Developments in the world are fundamentally destroying family structures in our society and around the world. The erosion of ancient family values weakens the structure of society and leads to identity crises. These threats are now more frequently discussed on international platforms. The basic steps to be taken here are to protect families and generations,” he said.

• First session after the opening program: Conducted with the participation of Assoc. Prof. Turgay Şirin, Prof. Ruhi Ersoy, Dr. Sarah Amjad Hussain.