Conference

Koç University, in collaboration with Trinity College, Dublin, is organising a conference highlighting the recent research its faculty have been conducting about World War One.  Speakers will talk about a wide range of subjects including the role of the Irish and Australians in the battles on the Gallipoli peninsula, German involvement in Ireland and Afghanistan during the war, the impact of the war on women in Ireland, the experience of Ukraine in World War One, and the history and heritage of the Gallipoli peninsula after the war.  During the weekend following the conference Trinity College, Dublin and Koç University faculty and students will go on a two-day field study trip to the Gallipoli peninsula to visit its historical sites and battlefields, and to create an “Irish memory walk” as part of the on-going academic collaboration between the two universities.

Speakers:

• Umran Inan, Rector, Koc University
• Jim Geary, Honorary Consul of Ireland
• Buket Çoskuner, Acting Director of Koc University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations
• Lucienne Thys-Şenocak, Koç University
• Mark Baker, Koç University
• Haluk Oral, Koç University
• David Fitzpatrick, Trinity College Dublin
• Jane Leonard, Trinity College Dublin
• Eunan O’Halpin, Trinity College Dublin
• Fionnuala Walsh, Trinity College Dublin

Gallipoli Trip

On the weekend following the April 16th conference ( April 18,19) Koç University will be taking the conference speakers, and a selected group of graduate, undergraduate and exchange students  from  Koç University to a field study tour of the historical sites, cemeteries and battlefields on the Gallipoli peninsula.  We will leave the Koç University campus on Saturday the 18th of April at 5:30 AM, and the Istinye campus at 6:00AM arriving in Gallipoli by 12:00. We will then tour the ANZAC section of the peninsula and proceed to the Cape Helles and V Beach area in the late afternoon.  We arrive at the village of Seddülbahir in the early evening for a tour of the Ottoman fortress and dinner in a fish restaurant overlooking the Dardanelles.  We will be staying in the Kale Pensyon in Seddülbahir on the evening of April 18th. The following morning we will have an early breakfast at the Kale Pensyon and leave for the Çanakkale Destani Simulation Center at Kabatepe.  The group will spend the remaining part of Sunday working on the mapping project for the Irish memory walk and revisiting sites on the peninsula which will be part of this commemorative effort.  We leave the peninsula at 3:00 and have an early dinner at the harbour in the town of Gallipoli before heading back to Istanbul.  We should arrive in Istanbul around 10 PM.  For the 10 students who are selected to partake in this trip, Koç University will cover transportation to and from Gallipoli, a 1-night stay at the Kale Pension in Gallipoli, all meals and the cost of the guided tour and simulation center entrance fee. Any other personal expenses are to be covered by individuals.

We strongly encourage international exchange students from Ireland, the UK, Australia, France, and New Zealand to apply to join our Turkish and international faculty and students from Koç University and our Irish guests from Trinity College, Dublin for this wonderful opportunity to visit Gallipoli on the 100th anniversary of the battles fought there in World War One.

We are proud to share the below video for the  conference and trip highlights of Gallipoli.