Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: "Our aim is to prevent problems in society before they grow"

Üsküdar University continues to strengthen the work of the Social Contribution Coordinatorship, which was established in line with the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and the Higher Education Quality Board (YÖKAK) in order for universities to actively support social development. The 2nd Consultation Meeting brought together representatives of academia, public and civil society. In this context, it was pointed out that Üsküdar University is the university that produces the most entrepreneurs in Turkey. Üsküdar District Governor Adem Yazıcı, who attended the meeting, emphasized that the issue of social contribution is very important. Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar University, underlined that the family is the last refuge against the onslaught of modernism and that the second biggest danger is addiction. Prof. Tarhan also stated that the aim of the Coordinatorship is to prevent problems in society before they grow by involving students.

The meeting held at the Central Campus Senate Hall was moderated by Üsküdar University Social Contribution Coordinator Dr. Lecturer. Prof. Dr. Nebiye Yaşar moderated the meeting.

Üsküdar District Governor Adem Yazıcı, Advisor to the Rector, Group Coordinator Lect. Assist. Serdar Karagöz, Mahmut Ekşi, President of the Foundation of Science and Virtue from NGOs, İshak Koçoğlu, ITO Assembly Member and Businessman, Erdal Çurgatay, President of Üsküdar Platform and President of Istanbul BİNYAD, Selim Serkan Ercan, Vice President of KOSGEB, Yüksel Arslan, President of Çanakkale and Thrace Education and Culture Confederation and academicians from the Social Contribution Coordinatorship attended the event.

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan: "Family is our last refuge against the attack of modernism"

Üsküdar University Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that the coming years are a serious crisis for Turkey. Tarhan; "Seminars and meetings are held on various topics on various digital platforms. Therefore, structured, projected contribution is important. Currently, the fertility rate, which should be 2.1 in the world, has fallen below 1.50. The coming years are a very serious crisis for Turkey. Our President has already announced a 10-year plan, not just a family year. Therefore, we need to continue working on the family. There is a modern drift, a modern attack targeting the family not only in Turkey but globally. Our family is our last refuge against the onslaught of modernism. The frenzy of exhibitionism, egoism and self-interest brought about by modernism, capitalist morality becoming the global morality. Capitalist morality is insatiable, irresponsible, and wants to grow unlimitedly. It is a profit-maximizing morality. Kahneman received the Nobel Prize for this. Man is not homo economicus, not an economic being. It is not an interest-maximizing being. Man is homo psychologicus. Human beings also have emotions. He came to the forefront because he also acts with his emotions while shopping, investing and purchasing behavior, but he is very weak against the wind of capitalism. We are now trying to do this in our own field. It is part of our vision as a university."

Second danger: Addiction!

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan emphasized the importance of educator training and mentioned that there is a very serious increase in statistics. Tarhan; "The second danger now is addiction. Addiction seriously affects the family. Right now in the USA and Canada, the streets smell of marijuana. In order to prevent the same thing from happening in our country, we may have to organize a year of addiction prevention in 10 years. We see that there is a very serious increase in statistics because patients come to us. We have written a project with the Ministry of Justice. We have written a project called "GÜVENKOR" for the probation center in Hasanpaşa. We want to train trainers here. We do not want to tell people that addiction is bad like this or bad like that. Anti-addiction policies all over the world aim to give people a sense of trust. When a person strengthens positive emotions, they do not feel the need for material goods. In other words, to provide preventive health services, we have everything ready for this. We have already published the science modules on the family. Our cities that are envisaged to implement it should be able to implement it like Gaziantep Municipality. We organized a training of trainers in Gaziantep. Then our Minister Fatma Şahin opened the 'Family Academy'. Anyone who enters there can solve many problems before they grow. Then our Minister said, 'Let's open it in Istanbul as well. We are ready to train trainers. This is a social project. We don't want people to come to us all the time. We think that we should train trainers and then systematically carry it out. We can do projects like this."

Our aim is to prevent problems in society before they grow...

Stating that people who succeed in overcoming themselves make both themselves and others happy, Tarhan said; "Students can work in various places in schools. Our aim is to prevent problems in society before they grow by involving our students. There is treatment after it becomes clinical, but it is very difficult. In other words, social protective mental health before it becomes a clinical case. It is even called prosociality in the literature. This prosociality work we are doing is preventive work that touches people beforehand and prevents them from getting sick. People who can transcend themselves can do this. People who only think about their own interests do not. In Maslow's hierarchy, self-realization was at the top. But Maslow changed this hierarchy before his death. The US published this in 2017. They hid it until then. Because when it comes to self-transcendence and self-actualization, capitalist morality didn't want it at all because they thought it would increase cooperation and transaction costs and this would reduce efficiency. This time they realized that suicide was on the rise, disease was on the rise, so they published, "We need to do these things. Now they put self-transcendence, not self-actualization, at the top. When people transcend themselves at the top of social needs, they are already happy. Neuroscience studies have also confirmed this. When a person manages to transcend himself, he both makes himself happy and makes others happy. The chemicals in the brain related to happiness, i.e. neurological sensitivity, were created that way. It is not created to work for oneself. Our neurological sensitivity was created to work with others in mind. Therefore, these studies are actually suitable for our nature. Doing this in accordance with our nature means working in accordance with our own nature, our biological nature, our neurological structure."

Üsküdar District Governor Adem Yazıcı: "The issue of social contribution is really important"

Stating that Üsküdar University contributes to very important projects, Üsküdar District Governor Adem Yazıcı said; "At the center of our service and work are our young people and before that, education. Üsküdar University is very pioneering and valuable at this point. The issue of social contribution is really important. We look at ourselves very critically with question marks such as where is the society and youth going, but where is our responsibility at this point, what duty do we have? More precisely, we don't feel our responsibility too much. We always expect the majority of it from the state, we put it off and look for reasons in others, but we do not ask where we are and what we are doing. I think that our universities have a very important mission at this point. Undoubtedly, academic success and activity are the first priority, but at this point, which we consider as social responsibility on a scale we call social responsibility, I am pleased to see that Üsküdar University contributes to very important projects today as it has done in the past."

"We have projects for the basic layers of society"

Yazıcı pointed out that the work done to put the family on solid foundations is very important; "The concept of society is really important. With the instruction of our President, we declared the year 2025 as the year of the family. I would like to remind once again that we should spread it over a period of 10 years and that there will be a special 10-year study on the concept of family. The more solid foundations we place the family on, the stronger our state and nation will be. It should be our main duty and responsibility to raise good, moral, personality, identity, character, qualified and quality people. This should be the responsibility of all our educational institutions. We are not an industrial city. Our universities, including primary and secondary education, have a very serious responsibility in raising qualified people and training labor force. At this point, we are making our best efforts. Especially since it is the year of the family, we have various projects for the most basic layers of society. As a district governorship, at this point, Üsküdar University, the purpose of its establishment is to bring social happiness and welfare to the forefront, and we are ready for all kinds of cooperation, especially since my teacher is his branch."

Our biggest gem is our youth...

Adem Yazıcı mentioned that the population should be raised very well and qualified; "When we look at our population growth rate in statistical studies, it is predicted that our population, which is currently 85 million, will be 65 million in 2100. In other words, under normal conditions, we need to exceed 100 million. But this population growth rate should actually be revised as the rate of decline. We are declining. Therefore, we are losing blood. Our greatest asset is our people, our youth, our population. This advice is our greatest precious commodity. Therefore, we must not lose this, but we must also raise the population in a very qualified way. There are very serious obstacles to erosion. My professor touched upon addiction in the first place. This addiction should not only be considered as substance addiction, the topics have started to multiply. We have a board for combating addiction under the auspices of our District Governorate. We hold meetings every two months. There is also participation from our university. Therefore, at this point, we are ready to cooperate with any kind of help that falls to us."

Later, Mahmut Ekşi, President of the Foundation of Science and Virtue, stated that the tradition of the Foundation is the most deeply rooted element of social contribution and that cooperation with universities carries this heritage to the future.

ITO Assembly Member, Business Person İshak Koçoğlu expressed the business world's interest in social contribution projects and emphasized that universities and the entrepreneurship ecosystem should develop joint projects.

Üsküdar Platform President and Istanbul BİNYAD President said that projects that start with the contribution of local actors can grow nationally and this will accelerate social development.

Yüksel Arslan, President of Çanakkale and Thrace Confederation of Education and Culture, stated that civil society coming side by side with universities is one of the most powerful tools in solving social problems.

Selim Serkan Ercan, Vice President of KOSGEB, stated that SMEs can directly benefit from University-NGO collaborations and sustainable business models can be developed through such meetings. Ercan also pointed out that Üsküdar University is the university that produces the most entrepreneurs in Turkey.

Projects carried out locally set an example on a national scale

At the meeting, it was pointed out that University-Public Sector-NGO cooperation makes significant contributions to the sustainability of the vision of social contribution. At the same time, the social and cultural heritage of Üsküdar was emphasized and it was stated that the projects carried out locally set an example on a national scale.
Finally, it was emphasized that social contribution is the most important pillar of the vision of "Science for society, impact for the future" as the third mission of the university.

The meeting ended with the presentation of certificates of appreciation and a group photo session.