The Impact of the Lausanne Peace Treaty - A Celebration for the 90th Anniversary
Presented by The Light Millennium and Columbia Turkish Student Association at
Columbia University, Lerner Hall on Thursday, November 14, 2013.
Welcoming Remarks
by Erman H. SENER
Vice President of Columbia Turkish Students Association and
Youth Representative of The Light Millennium to the UN/DPI.
Esteemed Speakers and Dear Guests,
On behalf of the Columbia Turkish Students and The Light Millennium, I would like to welcome you all to the Celebration for the 90th Anniversary of the Lausanne Peace Treaty and to the High Level Panel titled “The Impact of the Lausanne Peace Treaty in the World.” Thank you for joining us this evening in this special event; we are honored to have you all here.
This is, indeed, a special event because no matter where we come from, we usually celebrate the independence days or the days that mark significant military victories of our particular countries but tend to neglect to celebrate the most integral causes behind our peaceful lives: treaties that ended long lasting wars, ones that achieved to establish sustainable peace and became the basis of our independence.
Lausanne Peace Treaty, in this context, deserves to be celebrated by all parties for it has succeeded to open up a new blank page in Turkey’s relations with the outer world after a period of devastating wars and proved to be successful in terms of the sustainability of the peace it has made. Moreover, for Turkish people, it holds two other meanings: the destruction of the Treaty of Sevres and the ideas of partition, and the creation of a fully independent, democratic, and secular Turkey thanks to its visionary leaders of that time, namely, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Ismet Inonu.
Erman Hakan Sener during his Welcoming Remarks at Columbia University, Lerner Hall.
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These are the reasons why we eagerly accepted to co-organize this event when Ms. Bircan Unver, the founding president of The Light Millennium, came to us with the whole concept of this High Level Panel. I would like to specially thank to H.E. Dr. Hamid Al-Bayati, H.E. Carlos Garcia Gonzales, Mr. Ali Cinar, and Prof. Christopher Vasillopulos for taking their time this evening to join us in their tight schedules and making this event become real.
Also, I would like to extend my thanks to SIPA Turkish Initiative, The Middle East Institute and Columbia Global Center in Turkey who supported us in outreach; and to Orhan Yegen; who is the owner of SipSak, personally, my favorite Turkish restaurant in town, and who provided us with this evening’s reception.
I want to end my words with quoting from the diary of one of the American diplomats who observed the negotiations at Lausanne, Joseph Clark Grew, to mark how good it feels to make peace: “When it finally appeared that a solution was in sight, the psychology of human nature took its natural course and the air of solemnity changed immediately into one bordering on actual hilarity...Venizelos and Ismet, calling each other mon cher ami, had their hands on each other’s arms, laughed like school boys and appeared to be on the point of actually embracing. Rumbold, the Englishman, showed his wild enthusiasm by a contraction of the facial muscles which amounted to a smile, and the Jap beamed benevolently through his glasses as though he had just eaten a most excellent dinner and felt at peace with the world.”
Now, I would like to invite Ms. Bircan Unver to the podium to give her speech on the concept of this event.
Finally, “Peace in the country, peace in the world.” Thank you.
PROGRAM with bios of the speakers
CONCEPT by Bircan Ünver
HIGHLIGHTS from the High Level Panel by Hande Subasilar
The Importance of the Lausanne Peace Treaty by Ali Cinar
Photo ALBUM 1: Slides - Run Down
Photo ALBUM 2: Reception
Photo ALBUM 3: The Impact of the Lausanne Peace Treaty - The High Level Panel
Invite (Final)
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