On Friday, May 24th, the International Africa Symposium, hosted by the ODAP Center and Istanbul Gelisim University, was completed. The program started with the speeches of Istanbul Gelisim University Rector Prof. Dr. Bahri ŞAHİN, Senegal Ambassador to Turkey Cheikh GEYE, (E) Ambassador Ahmet KAVAS, ODAP Center Founding Director Dr. Ali SEMİN and Diplomacy Foundation Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oğuzhan BİLGİN.
Our founding director Dr. Ali SEMİN started his speech by thanking the symposium organizers and continued by mentioning the importance of Africa’s position in the international political system. Emphasizing the diverse and abundant natural riches and beauties of the continent, Semin emphasized Africa’s landmark impacts in many periods of history. He appreciated Africa’s efforts to protect its own resources and to improve the education of young generations, as it is still haunted by the bitter experiences of global colonization competition. He spoke about the determining and noteworthy elements of the governance crises occurring in African countries in the international system, both regionally and globally.
Dr. Ali Semin mentioned that the continent creates unique analysis opportunities and grounds for the science of international relations as it contains each of the political governance systems and expressed his belief that the political interactions that occur within the scope of bilateral and multilateral relations of countries should be further examined in the fields of academia and diplomacy. He concluded by saying that the ODAP Center will continue to bring together ODAP followers with its efforts to examine the important elements and mechanisms of African politics with academic methods.
After the opening session of the symposium, our founding director Dr. Ali SEMİN expressed his special thanks to Prof. Dr. Bahri ŞAHİN, Rector of Istanbul Gelisim University, for the plaque presentation.
