Simferopol hosts worldwide forum of Turkic philologists
SIMFEROPOL — On Sept. 28, 2009, the Fourth National Congress of Turkic Philologists finished its work at the Crimean Engineering Pedagogical University. It was attended by 59 scholars from all the Turkic countries of the world, including Ukraine.
The previous forums of the Turkologists were held in Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), and on Cyprus. Although the Crimea has already gathered Turkic philologists to discuss scholarly problems that specifically refer to the interaction between the Turkic and Slavic languages, it was the first time that such a high-level and large-scale conference took place in Ukraine. The Crimean University, which brings together the Crimean Turkologists and teaches the fundamentals of Turkic philology to thousands of students, welcomed experts from Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and other countries. KIPU rector Fevzi Yakubov gave the opening address, and then the congress split into sections, each examining a set of questions connected with the Turkic languages and literatures.
Ukrainian and Romanian students clean up river banks
On Sept. 29, 2009, Coca-Cola Ukraine companies held a green campaign under the slogan “Let us clean the Tysa River together” within the framework of the development program of the UN Global Environment Facility (GEF) called “A Complex of Measures on Integrated Land and Water Management in the Upper Tysa Basin.” The purpose of the campaign was not only to clean 300 to 400 meters of the river’s banks, but also to draw public attention to the problem of waste product recycling.
The action took place in the Romanian village of Bocicoiu Mare and the Ukrainian village of Velyky Bychkiv. The employees of the Coca-Cola Ukraine were joined by the members of the All-Ukrainian Ecological League, village communities, employees of public utilities that operate on the territory of these villages, and schoolchildren. This latter group was the largest, comprising over 200 Ukrainian kids and nearly as many Romanian students. Participating children cleaned their territories and then sang the national anthems. A competition between pupils from different schools was held to see who would gather the greatest amount of litter.
A total of six tons of litter was collected, which means that the river banks were very dirty. The Tysa is a full-flowing river, so in spring it floods and when the water goes down, all kinds of things remain on the stone bank. So among the findings were plastic and glass items and wrappings.
“After the campaign they will be taken to the local recycling plant,” said Olha Chumak, PR manager of the Coca-Cola Ukraine. “Among our company’s priorities is taking care of ecology and environment in the entire world. Working in Ukrainian society, we can see that such problems exist here as well, so we are trying to put money and efforts in order to resolve them.”
Ukrainians’ interest in these kinds of campaigns has been constantly rising. Several weeks before the launch of the campaign, competitions were held in schools to produce the best anti-littering promotional materials. At the moment, the organizers are selecting the best works that will be put on billboards in Velyky Bychkiv and other settlements along the Tysa River.
The Tysa River originates in Ukraine and is one of the longest rivers in Central Europe. Each year a large amount of waste products are carried downstream and end up on foreign territory.
