10 / 52
C
Prof. Dr.
“OUR DISTINGUISHED ORGANIZATION, THE
GREEN CRESCENT, HAS BEEN FIGHTING AGAINST
ADDICTIONS FOR THE HUMAN DIGNITY AND PUBLIC
HEALTH FOR NEARLY A CENTURY!”
The Green Crescent is a long-established public health institution which has been
fighting against addictions for nearly a century. Respecting human honor and dignity
and carrying out preventive and rehabilitative works to protect the society and the
youth against the danger of addiction without any discrimination, the Green Crescent
is 95 years old with its dynamism, modernity and wisdom! We asked the General
President of the Green Crescent,
Prof. Dr. İhsan Karaman
, who struggles to turn
Turkey into a leading and exemplary country in the fight against addictions, about what
happens in the Green Crescent…
S ÜME Y YA OLCAY
I N T E RV I EW
Could you please tell us about the history and mission
of the Green Crescent, an organization which has been
operating for nearly a century?
The Green Crescent is a non-governmental organiza-
tion, a public health institution which was established
in 1920 and has been operating for nearly a century. In
the years during which the Green Crescent was foun-
ded immediately following the occupation of Istanbul,
we know that there was a resistance against the war
carried out with a national consciousness for struggle
in Anatolia. Our opponents in, especially the British,
would bring boxes of alcoholic beverages and even
drugs and distribute them in Istanbul and Anatolia to
break the national resistance, to make the Turkish young
addicted to them and weaken their resistance against oc-
cupation and they turned our young people into enabling
addicts. Intellectuals from various sections of the society
noticed that this weakened the resistance and came
together in Istanbul and established the Green Cres-
cent- then called Hilal-i Ahdar- in the March of 1920. The
Green Crescent started its struggle as a society against
alcohol in the first place. Then it started to work on other
addictions such as drug and smoking addictions. Finally
in recent times we've handled the issue of gambling
and technology addiction, which are types of addictions
striking the youth of the world at most.
KARAMAN
M.İHSAN
FILE
INTERVIEW
yesilay.org.tr
10
YEŞiLAY
•
SPRING 2015