Smoke-Free Campus Program was Held at Our University
Within the scope of Lung Cancer Awareness month, the ‘Smoke-Free Campus’ program was organized in cooperation with the World Health Organization, Muş Municipality, Young Savings Association and MAUN.
Muş Governor Assoc. Dr. İlker Gündüzöz, Muş Mayor Feyat Asya, World Health Organization Türkiye Office Program Director Prof. Dr. Toker Ergüder, Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Yaşar Karadağ and Prof. Dr. Ulaş Çaydaş, Provincial Director of Youth and Sports Mehmet Arif Taşdemir, Deputy Provincial Health Director, Deputy Provincial Director of Turkish Employment Agency Ahmet Sağlık, deans, principals, academic and administrative staff and students attended to the program that MAUN Rector Prof. Dr. Fethi Ahmet Polat hosted.
The Smokeless Campus program started with the singing of the National Anthem at the 1071 Malazgirt Congress and Culture Center. Governor Gündüzöz, who made the opening speech of the program, stated that he wished the panel to be beneficial and that he wished to raise awareness about the fight against tobacco products. Governor Gündüzöz said, “Our President’s uncompromising attitude towards cigarettes and tobacco products and his activities to raise awareness on this issue have let to important and good developments in the society. Today, smoking is largely prohibited in non-smoking areas. Let’s face it. We have serious gains compared to 20-30 years ago. Indeed, non-governmental organizations have a great responsibility in this regard. It is our duty as the civil authorities to open their way by supporting them. Tobacco is an important industrial product. It is a very serious source of economic income especially in our province. We are not against tobacco production, but we are against the harmful use of tobacco.”
In his speech, Muş Mayor Feyat Asya said: “We are very happy to be a stakeholder in every program that includes the word health. We know the war our President has waged against tobacco use. We attach great importance to the organization of these programs that raise awareness of our people in terms of preventive measures against cancer, which we avoid even mentioning its name.”
Rector Polat, on the other hand, stated in his opening speech that the University had made many organizations related to cancer before, and that it had signed numerous social responsibility projects for cancer patients in the province, especially with the help of student clubs. He stated: “We do not have a medical school, but we are interested in activities to raise awareness of our people against cancer. We successfully held three of the international oncology congresses held in Türkiye in our university with the partnership of Muş Governorship, Muş Municipality, Young Savings Association and OnkoSev. We hosted hundreds of guests from Türkiye and abroad in Muş. Our student clubs have also worked and are actively working on this issue. I would like to thank all public institutions and organizations and voluntary organizations that contributed.” Polat reminded that they held international congresses and workshops on tobacco in previous years. “We had two main goals here. We are experiencing serious problems in tobacco production, which is an important economic input in Muş agriculture. Our first goal was to draw attention to these problems of our producers and what kind of contributions we could make as a university at this point. The second point we wanted to draw attention to was that tobacco is not only used as a raw material for a harmful beverage such as cigarettes, but also has a wide range of uses in industry. As a matter of fact, the results of this congress were conveyed to the higher authorities, and the decisions in the final declaration served as a reference to the official steps to protect tobacco producers and to use tobacco in industry.
The 2018-2023 Tobacco Control Strategy Document and Action Plan were prepared under the presidency of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and comprehensive steps were taken in our country within the framework of this plan. For example, the use of tobacco in closed public spaces is prohibited. Today, we will take a symbolic step here and declare the area in front of our Congress Cultural Center a smoke-free zone. Hopefully, by expanding these areas within our Complex, we will be instrumental in helping our young people get rid of this bad habit. Thank you to our Governor and Mayor, who supported this commendable work, to the Young Savings Association, and especially to Prof. Dr. Toker Ergüder, Prof. Dr. Nazmi Bilir, Assoc. Dr. Yakup Arslan and Assoc. Dr. I would like to thank our teachers, Mevlüt Karataş," he stated.
Mus Young Savings Association President Salih Yüce said, “It is very important to protect children and youth, who are the source of society, against cancer. Cancer is a very dangerous health problem and early diagnosis facilitates cancer treatment. For this reason, it is significant to inform accurately the families, children and young people about cancer, prevention of the disease and early detection of cancer. It’s very important for diagnosis.”
After the opening and greeting speeches, the afternoon session continued with panel talks.
After the panel, Rector Polat and the participants first participated in the cigarette butt collection event organized with the slogan “Smoke-Free Campus” and then the “Smoke-Free Air Field Painting Event” in Muş Nation’s Garden.
