Rector Kutluhan Attends the 'Smile with PAU' Launch Event
The launch meeting of the Smile Festival was held with PAU in Samandağ district of Hatay between 20-21 April 2024, for the children affected by the 'Disaster of the Century', together with the students of PAU Alternative Youth Community and PAU Lawyers of the Age Community, under the supervision of Pamukkale University (PAU) Faculty of Law faculty member Dr.Onur Kahan Arslan.
April 20-21, 2024, the launch meeting of the Smile Festival with PAU was organized in Samandag district of Hatay for children affected by the Disaster of the Century together with the PAU Alternative Youth Community and PAU Lawyers Community students, who were advised by Pamukkale University (PAU) Faculty of Law Dr. Onur Kahan Arslan.
Pamukkale University Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan, Denizli Bar Association President Atty. Adnan Demirdöğer, Head of Denizli Tax Office Halil Tekin, Dean of the Faculty of Law Prof. Dr. Hülya Kabakçı Karadeniz, Dean of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Prof. Dr. Ender Coşkun, representatives of the sponsor companies that supported the event, academicians and students attended.
At the event, which continued with opening speeches after a moment of silence and the reading of the National Anthem, Hatay Samandağ District National Education Directorate Branch Manager Zülale Arslan Yılmaz made a speech online. Yılmaz made a brief evaluation about the before and after of the project, especially Pamukkale University Rector Prof. Dr. He expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the project, especially Ahmet Kutluhan.
In the program, which continued with speeches, PAU Faculty of Law third-year student Gadir Açıkel made a speech on behalf of PAU and the Smile Project students. Açıkel: “I am very happy to be here with you today at the launch of our social responsibility project called “Smile with PAU”. We celebrated April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day in Samandağ, the beautiful district of Hatay, with our children, who are the guarantee of our future. During our two-day festival, the smiles on our children's faces reinforced our hope and spirit of solidarity. This earthquake affected many provinces as well as Hatay, lost thousands of our citizens and injured tens of thousands. After this tragedy, we tried to heal our wounds in unity and solidarity. Our “Smile with PAU” project was born as part of this healing process. We wanted to bring joy to our children with our festival, contribute to their education by distributing toys to our village schools, and show that we are strong together by participating in holiday celebrations. With this project, we want to announce to the whole world the resistance of Hatay and Samandağ and their ability to rise from the ashes. The earthquake did not destroy us, on the contrary, it made us stronger. We will walk towards a brighter future in solidarity, sharing our pain. On this occasion, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who supported our project and every individual who contributed. I hope that our “Smile with PAU” project will be remembered as a symbol of hope and solidarity.”
Dr. Arslan: “Within the scope of this project, we hosted approximately eight thousand students in the event area for two days.”
Dr. Onur Kahan Arslan, faculty member of PAU Faculty of Law and advisor of PAU Alternative Young Community and PAU Lawyers of the Age Community, noted the following in his speech: “Today is the day when the Smile with PAU Project, which we started at the beginning of the year, has been completed and we have come to its last day. I am also from Hatay. Unfortunately, I know the situation after the earthquake very well. It is truly a city in ruins and in poverty. The process started with a simple idea and we completed our Smile Project with PAU between 19-23 April with flying colors. I would like to thank our sponsors for their support during this process. My esteemed Rector Prof., who never withholds his support from us. Dr. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Dean, Mr. Ahmet Kutluhan, the President of the Bar Association, the Head of the Tax Office, and our students who worked day and night for about four months and contributed to this project. Within the scope of this project, we hosted approximately eight thousand students in the event area for two days. We visited four village schools that had never been visited before and gifted over three thousand toys to our children. "In the evenings, we visited our brothers who could not come to the festival area and were disabled due to the earthquake and delivered various gifts to them."
Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Dr. Hülya Kabakçı Karadeniz touched upon the following in her speech: "The words of the Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, "All my hope is in the youth," have once again proven the legitimacy of this hope today. Being a university student is not just about following classes and taking exams. It also means being a beneficial individual to society, taking responsibility and creating value. Sensitive students of Pamukkale University came together and worked day and night and put their hearts into such a meaningful project. I congratulate them wholeheartedly and ask you to give them a big round of applause. As the Faculty of Law, we are happy and proud to take part in such a meaningful event. We would like to thank our Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan, who supported our event and encouraged us, the architect of this meaningful event, Dr. Kahan Onur Arslan, Head of General Public Law Department of the Faculty of Law, everyone who contributed, especially the members of the Lawyers of the Age Community and the Alternative Young Community, and our very valuable I thank our sponsors and greet you all with respect.”
Denizli Bar Association President Demirdöğer: “When my young colleagues came to Denizli Bar Association and said that they would organize such an event, I was a little hesitant. But I saw that they did a truly magnificent work.”
Denizli Bar Association President Atty. Adnan Demirdöğer stated the following in his speech: “During the February 6 Earthquake, as Denizli Bar Association, we organized an aid campaign to deliver two trucks to Hatay Bar Association on the third day, and under today's conditions, after a seventeen-hour journey, that aid was able to reach there and then Five days later, Denizli Bar Association contributed a truck to be delivered to the Kahramanmaraş Bar Association. There was a charity campaign organized by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations for our Denizli Bar Association colleagues, and we participated in this aid campaign. Of course, dear friends, pain decreases by sharing. But I cannot help but mention one thing. As you know, Denizli is an earthquake zone. Over the past year, we have learned that the earthquake is too important to be left only to mayors and public institutions and politicians. Of course, as a society, we need to act with awareness of this earthquake. All segments of society need to be prepared for this earthquake event. Non-governmental organizations, universities, politicians, municipalities, in short, all segments of society need to act regarding this earthquake without a plan A, B or C. I was a little hesitant when my young colleagues came to Denizli Bar Association and said that they would organize such an event. But I saw that they did a truly magnificent work. I would like to thank all my colleagues who organized this event, especially my Rector. I also thank you very much for this award. Thank you, thank you.”
Rector Kutluhan: “We held our future in the hands of children there; We have paved the way for our young people here, we are sure of our future, friends, we can applaud ourselves.”
Pamukkale University Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan noted the following in his speech: “This event is a noble event in itself. Because when they came to me with their initial excitement, I said let's do it right away. Do you need help? I asked, and this was my second question. They said we don't need help. I said, "May God bless you." Our second thing is that when we leave, look, we will stand in front of each other again. I asked again if they needed help to make the event beautiful. Teacher Kahan said okay, no problem. Currently, as the Rectorate, we have only done what was asked of us and our duties regarding the infrastructure, we have not done anything too high. I thank them very much for making this event possible. It was a noble event. The second nobility of the event is that the words of the great Atatürk, 'the power you need is in the noble blood in your veins', came true here. Only this event can explain our national unity and solidarity. This is our noble blood. There we held our future in the hands of children; We have paved the way for our youth here, we are sure of our future, friends, we can applaud ourselves. Pamukkale University; I explain that universities are divided into two, the first is Pamukkale University, the second is others. Is there any other activity other than Pamukkale University? We have many events that I can talk about right now. We held an event in Antalya the other day. OPET has a big sponsorship. I said to OPET General Manager: "How many universities are there?" He said there are more than a hundred universities. I said, how many universities are knocking on your door? He said only Pamukkale University. Our university really organizes big events all over the place, from Antalya to Muğla and Aydın, and we finally said that this university is crazy. We also opened a branch of our Technocity in Europe. How was university? A university whose doors have been closed, its connections with the city have been cut off, and it is struggling within itself. But now we have guests from the city coming to every event. There are non-governmental organizations everywhere we go. Now let's not underestimate ourselves. Pamukkale University is one of the universities of the future. With these words, I wholeheartedly congratulate everyone who did this event, thought about it, and could not go there.”
At the end of the event, Pamukkale University Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan; Dr. Lecturer Member Onur Kahan Arslan, Dr. on behalf of Samandağ District National Education Branch Director Zülale Arslan Yılmaz. Lecturer Member Onur Kahan Arslan, Denizli Bar Association President Atty. He presented a plaque and a certificate of appreciation to Adnan Demirdöğer, Denizli Tax Office President Halil Tekin, representatives of the sponsor companies that supported the event, and the students working in the project.
