I am trained as a medical doctor and have been working as a surgeon for almost 30 years. However, as a person who is used to seeing blood and witnessed pain of people suffering from the loss of a part of their body, devastating mood switches of people who have been traumatized both psychologically and physically, I am still deeply affected by the children who are victims of war in Iraq, Palestine or Sudan or any other part of the world, as well as the ever increasing number of our children and teenagers who are involved in crime of all kinds and of which most are drug addicts, and every time I see them in the media or on the internet I cannot help questioning myself on these issues. We, those who live on this side of that world, have tried to provide the best health services for our own children, to send them to the best schools, have introduced them all state-of-the-art products of technology, and tried to equip them with the best skills and abilities for many years, in our quest to secure a better future for our children. We have allocated all the savings we could make, for their future. But, in this world of globalization, we closed our eyes to the other world that we have to live together whether we desire to do so or not. We may have provided our own children with many things and may have left them many valuable assets, however we cannot say that we are leaving them a safe environment or a secure future.

The twentieth century will be remembered as a century marked by violence. It burdens us with its legacy of mass destruction, of violence inflicted on a scale never seen and never possible before in human history. Violence pervades the lives of many people around the world and touches all of us in some away. No country, no city, no community is immune. And unfortunately, the young people are the most suffering victims either they are involved in as a victim or an offender. All over the world young people are witnessing, experiencing and participating in acts of violence perpetrated by one set on one people upon another.

More badly, the growing engagement of young people in organized crimes, political violence and terrorism is becoming more common in all around of the world. This engagement not only threatens the communities and destroys the infrastructures of the societies that may be exposed to the violence, but harms the young people, effects their development, well-being, and annihilates their future. Of course, as a consequence this means that the futures of societies are stolen.

Hence, we must address the root causes and consequences of violence. And then, we need to understand when, how and why young people are deciding to participate in organized violence.

Although, there have been many studies for a long time about the relationships between youth and violence, political violence phenomenon that is created and is legitimized by human beings and is involving its main dynamics in itself, is not paid attention very much until recent time. I hope this workshop makes a major contribution to our understanding of violence and its impact on societies and illuminates the different faces of violence, from the side of the most.

I would like to express my deep greetings and to thank to all our guests who have put all their efforts to participate in this workshop and gathered here for this purpose.

Prof. Dr. Tunçalp Özgen, Rector, Hacettepe University, ANKARA