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Aside from those directly addressing
children and young people, we make
many publications aimed at raising
awareness about addiction among the
general public, and steer our society
toward a healthy life. Among the most
important publications in this field is
the Green Crescent magazine, which
we have been publishing monthly
for more than 1,000 months. The
magazine, 1,000 issues of which have
been published to date, answers the
question of how to live a healthy,
peaceful, and psychologically and
physically strong life, from a different
aspect every month. In addition,
we have been publishing the Green
Crescent “Mavi Kırlangıç” children’s
magazine for more than 50 years with
a view to guiding the children toward
a healthy lifestyle, and contributing to
their mental development.
We also carry out many activities and
campaigns across Turkey on a regular
basis to encourage people to do sports,
which is a part of a healthy lifestyle,
through our sports-related branches,
and crown these efforts with the bike
marathon we organize annually.
I can talk about many other projects,
but let me name some of the most
important ones without going into
detail: The Healthy Generation Healthy
Future Talent Contest, the Phoenix
Award Ceremony, the International
Green Crescent Cartoon Contest and
the Short Film Competition are just
some of the works we are carrying out
to prepare our people for a healthy life,
free fromaddictions, hoping to save the
todays and tomorrows of our people.
In addition to carrying out preventive
studies, we also provide rehabilitation
services to addicts and their relatives.
ThroughourGreenCrescent Counseling
Centers, we provide psychosocial
support to addicts to help them regain,
or at least try to compensate for, their
lost years. Since addictions affect also
the individual’s family and friends, we
also include them in the rehabilitation
process and pay special attention to
social integration.
Green Crescent already carries
out many important projects and
activities at a national level, but also
carries out projects and develops
cooperations to take its mission
of fighting against addiction to
the international arena. Can you
tell us about these international
collaborations and activities of Green
Crescent?
Green Crescent has had a single
question on its agenda for 100 years:
Howcanpeopleliveahealthy,addiction-
free life? With this aim, we are using
every means to reach our people and
all of humanity, and to convey our
message. We do not perform these
works only in a neighborhood, a city
or a country; we also share them with
humanity as a whole. In this context,
we have been granted a consultative
status in the United Nations by the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Holding this status, we share our
expertise, experience and knowledge
with all countries in the world. We
also regularly contribute to the World
Health Organization’s studies into
addictions. By regularly transferring
our knowledge and experience to the
Green Crescents in other countries that
operate under the International Green
Crescent Federation, which is present
in over 60 countries, we spread our
work to four continents.
We organize regular international
congresses, seminars and training
activities to fight against addiction, and
we carry out the background works and
criticisms about each of our activities
in consultation with, and upon the
approval of, our Scientific Committee.
We also carry out scientific researches
into the effectiveness of our programs,
and restructure them regularly. We
then share the scientific evidence of our
studies with the relevant institutions
around the world.
We see the problem of addiction as one
of society and humanity as a whole.
We know that neither a state nor
an NGO can overcome this problem
alone, and so we receive support from
our volunteers and share this burden
with our people, engaging them in our
efforts to ensure that our people and
humanity as a whole can rid itself of
addictions. We have more than 100,000
volunteers across Turkey, a total of 120
Green Crescent clubs in universities
and Green Crescent branches in every
city. We provide grant support to civil
society organizations in different parts
of Turkey, who are engaged in studies
in line with the projects and targets
of Green Crescent. Looking at all the
works we have carried out to date, it
can be seen that our agenda has been
the same for a century. Wewill continue
our efforts until no addict remains.
ISSN 1303-3980K.K.T.C. FİYATI 11TL
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The cover of the 1000 issue of Green Crescent
Journal was designed by the famous painter
İsmail Acar with the concept of “Paradise and
Green Crescent born from the ashes of the bird
Phoenix”
Buğra Çimen, İstanbul
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