Chapter Spotlight: Turkey

The Turkish Chapter of ILAE (Turk Epilepsi ile Savas Dernegi) was founded in 1973 in Istanbul where it is located. We have 444 active members, who are all medical doctors. The goal of the society is to promote basic and clinical research, to assure that relevant information is readily available to everyone who can use it, to create an interactive network of clinicians and basic scientists in the field of epilepsy, to participate in the creation of new knowledge and the process of establishing standards of care, to ensure the existence of sufficient medical facilities with well-trained professionals in Turkey.

In the light of our goals, our chapter has been offering EEG courses since 2007 and holding seizure semiology meetings for the last four years. We have also been holding “Episkop Meetings” where cases are discussed for two years. The first national congress was held in 1998, and it has been repeated biannually ever since. The ninth and most recent congress was held in 2014 in Fethiye-Mugla with more than 400 participants. Best research papers both in clinical and basic sciences are given awards during the national congress. The chapter also organizes a symposium alternatingly with the congress and the last on “Treatment in Epilepsy” was recently held in Istanbul with 150 participants. The Chapter has been organizing monthly epilepsy meetings from October to April for more than 15 years with the participation of well-distinguished clinical and basic scientist expert in epilepsy.

Since 1995, “Epilepsi” journal of the Turkish League Against Epilepsy has been published three times a year with a supplement each year. The journal is bilingual, in Turkish and English, with open access via our website. Our website offers instantaneous linkage to a vast number of related resources not only to contribute to the rapidly expanding databases but also to provide efficient and effective information retrieval for medical doctors as well as patients. In line with the aims of our chapter, we intend to raise awareness about epilepsy in the society by also using the social media. The link for the Association of People with Epilepsy and their Carers is also found on our website. We have an active facebook page for both the society and the association with 621 and 1,692 followers, respectively.

The first international meeting was Mediterranean Epilepsy Congress which was held in 1994 in Istanbul. Since than many other international events have taken place and now we are looking forward for the 31st International Epilepsy Congress (IEC) in which will be organized in Istanbul on 5-9 September, 2015, a joined effort of International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE).The scientific programme of this congress will be innovative and engaging. We will be pleased to host our guests in Istanbul, which is the world’s only city to span two continents (Europe and Asia), and it has been a crossroads of trade, culture, learning, and art for over 8,500 years.

Chapter Contacts

Chapter website: http://www.turkepilepsi.org.tr/
Telephone-fax number: 90-212-5297780
Email: dernek@turkepilepsi.org.tr
President: Naz Yeni: snaz@istanbul.edu.tr
Past President: Prof. Candan Gürses MD: candangrss@gmail.com
Vice President: Pr Nerses Bebek: nersesb@yahoo.com
Secretary General: Assoc. Prof. Kezban Aslan: kezbanaslan@hotmail.com
Treasurer: Prof. Ebru Aykutllu: draykulu@hotmail.com
Member: Prof. Zeki Gokcil MD: zgokcil@yahoo.com
Board Members: Prof. Dr. F. İrsel Tezer, MD, PhD: irseltezer@yahoo.com.tr; Prof. Dr. Kadriye Agan Yildirim MD kadiagan@yahoo.com;
Assoc Prof. Kemal Tutkavu, MD, MSc: tutkavulkemal@yahoo.com

2021 International Epilepsy Day

The Turkish Epilepsy Society ran a robust social media awareness campaign for International Epilepsy Day, with several waves of postings, and hashtags that included #LookForEpilepsy.

The campaign's aim is to raise social awareness that people living with epilepsy can continue their lives, read, work, marry, have children and have successful careers, just like everyone else. The campaign was created, purple, the global color for epilepsy, and then was combined with the glasses icon representing a change of biased perspective. The Purple Glasses icon was used both on the field and on digital platforms to represent epilepsy awareness and everyone was invited to leave their prejudices against epilepsy behind. By extending the timing of our campaign to cover the International Epilepsy Day and the Purple Day, we continue to raise awareness and fight against the prejudices about epilepsy with our unconditional supporter UCB Pharma Turkey.