written by Firuze Sarikas
On October 1st and 2nd ´The 2nd Ageing Conference´ was organized at the Istanbul University. Social
scientists, professionals, NGOs and policy makers who studies and works with elderly people
gathered to discuss the developments on ageing and technology, health, migration, economy,
demography, law as well as senior-friendly communities and cities.
ENIEC member Feruze Sarikas, who is the coordinator of the project Haags Ontmoeten (project for
elderly and informal caregivers) was invited to share her experiences on “working on an age-friendly
city”; and to explain the innovative project ‘Haags Ontmoeten’. The participants of the conference
were very interested in the project, since Istanbul has an increased elderly population and has to
become a more senior-friendly city in the coming years. The network structure of the project and the
differences between migrant and non-migrant elderlies’ and their families’ care attitudes were a hot
topic for the participants.
The information exchange between The Hague and Istanbul was made possible through the
cooperation of ENIEC members Feruze Sarikas and Ferhan Palaz, who is a PhD student at the
Department of Sociology and a committe member of the conference. The lstanbul University
Sociology Department has an ongoing TUBlTAK (Scientific and technological Research Council of
Turkey) funded project “Urban Gentrification and Ageing: lstanbul Example”. It is hoped to
accomplish further studies together.
