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TAU Canada presents …

Gülsen Aşam

    • Cotler International Graduate Fellowship Program
    • International student at Tel Aviv University, Security and Diplomacy Program

Gülsen Aşam’s dream has long been to pursue a master’s degree at Tel Aviv University. At TAU, she felt she could have the best opportunity to understand and observe the dynamics of the Middle East, which had been the focus of her studies since she began her bachelor’s degree at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. In other words, Gülsen wanted to be in the heart of diplomatic relations.

Her awareness of human rights issues and geopolitics began almost at birth. Gülsen’s father went to England as a refugee in 1999. He desperately wanted her mother, brother and Gülsen to join him and arranged a truck for transport, as we so often see in the news. When she was two years old, before the journey, the truck driver told her mother that Gülsen would not be able to breathe on this journey, as she was too little. The driver had suggested that her mother let her go. Her mother refused, and also gave up going to the UK because she did not want to entrust Gülsen to their relatives. Her father became eligible for British citizenship only after 11 years, and they did not see each other in all this time.

Gülsen shares: “I was always hesitant to tell my story until this age because it was unlike anyone else’s life. But then I realized that differences and difficulties made me stronger than my other friends. I am someone who never gives up and produces solutions for the sake of my ideals. The most important goal I have gained from my experiences on this path is to participate in and encourage activities that will fight for human rights.”

Graduating from Marmara University, Department of Political Science and International Relations in 2020, Gülsen later worked as a Researcher at TRT, Turkey’s national channel. She explains that, unfortunately, Turkey’s political and economic atmosphere does not provide an environment for young people to realize their ideals. For that reason, she started to work as a flight attendant at Turkish Airlines to make observations and have up-close encounters with people from different cultures.

In this way, she traveled to many countries, took small notes, and saved money to study for a master’s degree at Tel Aviv University, which was one of her dreams. Turkey, which includes a part of Mesopotamia, has been the transition point or host of many civilizations. Due to its geopolitical location, Turkey, with its deep and vast historical significance, is a bridge between the West and the East. As a result, the responsibilities it undertakes are high. Gülsen states, “No matter how much the rightness or wrongness of the steps taken and decisions made are discussed, there are many places and cultures worth visiting in this land, smelling of history in every inch, from east to west, north to south.”

From this perspective, she was eager to further her understanding of the region and its geopolitical import. While deepening her research on master’s degree programs, what most caught her eye was the Irwin Cotler Fellowship Program, which opens its doors to students from all over the world and presents them with the opportunity to engage in this field. She knew this was the program for her.

Gülsen’s reasons for applying to the program are poignant. She explains that since she lives in a country in which many different cultures live together, and comes from a family where the patriarchal order is still dominant, concepts such as democracy, women’s and children’s rights, and refugee rights have always been sensitive. These sensitivities and peculiarities of Turkey have been pioneering points in her steps.

Gülsen’s Irwin Cotler Fellowship journey has been filled with unforgettable moments, culminating in the completion of her master’s at Tel Aviv University in August. “Pursuing a Master’s degree in Security and Diplomacy with a prestigious Irwin Cotler Fellowship has been a life changing experience. I had the opportunity to learn about all the actors involved in the ongoing crisis in the region, from the core to the maturation phase, and the relevant goals of these actors by reinforcing them through field trips. For this reason, I can say that I lived history rather than learning history as if I were in a time machine.”

At the program’s introductory meeting, Gülsen was deeply moved that people from different parts of the world, from America to Asia, from different cultures and countries with different internal dynamics, could meet on a common ground by talking about common problems in the framework of human rights.

 Gülsen was asked what she will bring back with her to Turkey, and how she will you make use of her Fellowship learnings in the future. Her response is honest and thought-provoking. She explains that these questions are two sides to the same coin. “There are somethings imposed on us as the only truth. However, to understand the essence of issues, we need to look at the whole picture. The aim will be to produce projects to improve bilateral relations between Türkiye and Israel, which need each other to fight against terrorism in the region.”

 

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