YEMENI FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION ASSOCIATION – TURKEY

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Expatriate Affairs and under the slogan: (Yemenis in Diaspora… Identity and Impact), and with the participation of Yemeni and international media professionals, thinkers and trainers, and a large presence of the Yemeni community in more than 30 countries around the world, the Yemeni Friendship and Cooperation Association concluded, in partnership with the Yemeni community in Turkey, And the Union of Yemeni Students in Turkey, Kocaeli branch, the National Identity Conference, which lasted on Saturday and Sunday 27/28/March/2021 AD via the Zoom platform.
At the beginning of the conference, the conference chairman, Dr. Ahmed Al-Aqbi, stressed the importance of holding such programs, events and conferences that are concerned with the national identity and the promotion of Yemeni Arab and Islamic values among the Yemeni communities in the diaspora.
For his part, Dr. Muhammad Al-Adel, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Expatriate Affairs, pointed out the importance of the conference and praised it as a first step that brings together the Yemeni communities in the countries of the Diaspora in order to strengthen the Yemeni identity among the sons of the Yemeni communities abroad.
Hajj Abdul-Wasa Hael Saeed, head of the Council of Notables in the Yemeni community in Turkey, addressed the attendees, saying that with everything that is happening in our country, I tell you not to lose hope and be confident in God, and there are good news that the crisis will soon end, stressing the adherence of the Yemenis in the Diaspora to their identity.
While Mr. Muhammad Al-Hamid, Expatriate Affairs Attaché at the Yemeni Embassy in Ankara, thanked and appreciated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Expatriate Affairs for sponsoring the conference, as well as the organizers of the conference, and expressed his willingness to publish the outputs of the conference through the Yemeni attachés in the countries of the Diaspora to benefit from them.
In the speech of the participants at the closing session of the National Identity Conference, Ms. Wafaa Al-Walidi, Advisor to the Ministry of Human Rights for Women and Children Affairs, extended her thanks and appreciation to the organizers of this conference. She also thanked the speakers who enriched us with their speech during the two-day conference, the technical team and the unknown soldiers of this conference, and called for the work of an inclusive council for all Yemeni communities on The world as a director for this conference to revitalize the activities and activities of the Yemeni communities and preserve the Yemeni national identity.
During the conference, many working papers related to national identity, ways to enhance it, and its importance in shaping the personality of the Yemeni expatriate in the country of emigration were presented. It was presented by a group of intellectuals and academics, the most prominent of whom were: Dr. Adel Bahmeed, Ambassador of Yemen to Malaysia, Professor Houria Mashhour, former Minister of Human Rights, Professor Daoud Al-Hadabi, Dr. Tariq Al-Suwaidan, Professor Ahmed Al-Daghshi, Dr. Muhammad Jumaih, Dr. Abdul-Raqeeb Abbad, and Dr. Abdul-Baqi Shamsan. A movie was also shown: We are the Yemenis, which referred to the civilizational balance of the Yemenis throughout history.
The conference aimed at strengthening the national identity and cultural belonging of the Yemenis in the Diaspora, and contributing to preserving the national identity and protecting it from alienation and extinction in front of other identities.
The conference stressed the need to preserve the national identity and enhance the spirit of belonging to the homeland, especially in light of the conditions and challenges that Yemen is going through. By addressing the following axes:
The first axis: the Yemeni national identity, the cultural balance and the passage to the future.
In this section, the following working papers were presented:
1- The cultural balance of the Yemeni national identity.
2- The reality of the Yemeni national identity in the country of exile.
3- Identity and sustainable community development.
The second axis: the role of official and civil institutions in preserving the national identity.
In this section, the following working papers were presented:
1- Preserving the national identity.
2- The role of official institutions in promoting national identity in the countries of emigration.
3- The role of NGOs in promoting national identity in the countries of emigration.
The third axis: national identity and new media.
In this axis, the following working papers were presented:
1- The role of social media in promoting the values of national identity.
2- Media and national identity.
The conference ended with a number of important recommendations, most notably:
• Monitoring and following up the negative effects on the behaviors, ideas and beliefs that the Yemeni immigrant is exposed to, and trying to find effective solutions for them in cooperation between all relevant parties, starting from the family, the state, and then civil society organizations.
• Work to find and establish a scientific, research and institutional social entity that is interested in writing and publishing issues of Yemeni identity and working to spread it among the Yemeni community all over the world.
• Work on implementing training programs for workers in NGOs to enhance their capabilities and ability to adopt and implement projects concerned with national identity.
• That this is the first conference, followed by periodic conferences and forums at the level of the countries of the Diaspora to preserve the national identity, and exchange experiences between the various components and Yemeni communities.
• Encouraging research and postgraduate studies related to Yemeni history and national identity.
• Issuing a quarterly electronic magazine that deals with and discusses issues of identity in which stakeholders participate and distributes it to all targeted Yemenis in all countries of the world.