4th International Social and Applied Gerontology Symposium in Turkey

Aged individuals appear to be content with their lives although indicators express the contrary. Let us not be mistaken by this situation. As Emile Durkheim states Human mind is not reliable; we can only get to know the social world with meticulous studies (Diekmann, 2007, 31). Thus, the changes in the demographical structure of our country should compel us to pay attention to old age and the living conditions of the aged individuals more than ever.
The number of psychologically and psychiatrically ill, isolated and lonely aged individuals has been increasing. We should discuss attitudes such as alcoholism, drug dependence and suicide which have become a reality in Turkey and increasingly widespread among the aged individuals before tabooing them. Especially the problem of nursing neediness of the aged, and violence, negligence and abuse towards the aged which are generally in connection with the said problem are the significant subjects that should be brought up to our country s agenda. The situation of handicapped children and youth who are the majorities in number as well as that of aged handicapped alarms us in terms of future. While seeking a solution to the problems of old women, young women should take measures on this very day in order not to end up like their grandmothers.

Since there is not any social field which is not affected by these developments, none of the disciplines should lie outside the sphere of these developments. Ageing and agedness are multidimensional and complex phenomena. With the help of medical, psychological and sociological solutions, agedness should lose its position as a period of life when lots of people look forward to dying. On the contrary, it should be turned into a period of life which is worth living.
While the lifetime increases more and more and it is not know when it shall end, today agedness has become a period of life which comprises one third of our lifetime in total. For a woman who becomes a grandmother when she is fifty years old, the chance of seeing the marriage of her grandchild after she brings up him/her has increased rather well. Half of the girls who were born in millennium shall be able to see the 22nd century. However, the lifetime of men keeps up with that of women. In the near future, a great majority of our country s population shall be made up of individuals who are above 60. Based on rough estimates, we should take into account the fact that the number of these people shall exceed 30 millions in 2050 in Turkey.
Nowadays, people question not how long they shall live but how they shall live. Developments which alter living conditions positively such as the proliferation of hygienic environment, healthy diet and opportunities modern medicine offers continuously add new years to our lifetimes. Yet, successful ageing and quality of life in agedness should be the key concepts in order to make this time period which we have succeeded in adding to our lifetimes a more prosperous period. Our objective should be to relieve agedness of poverty, make it free from illness and nursing neediness and create active and gleesome aged individuals. This offer is highly profitable not only in terms of individuals but also in terms of social security systems. As the number of ill and dependent aged individuals decreases, our social expenditures shall decrease as well, thus empty safes shall be filled up.
On the other hand, both international effects and national effects of demographic ageing are the leading subjects which are constantly emphasized in the scientific literature. Effects which are negative in general has gradually become much more apparent; in addition to economical and political globalization, social ageing phenomenon becomes a global problem.
We should comprehend the gravity of the warnings that have been made by the United Nations Organizations since 1980 and take our place in the international struggle against the results of social ageing. International Social and Applied Gerontology Symposium, which we shall hold in Antalya between 28 and 30 April 2010 for the forth time, is an indicator of this common struggle and a product of the desire of making agedness a livable life period.

The objective of International Social and Applied Gerontology Symposium is to make the crying face of agedness laugh in these days when we have started to feel the constraints of social ageing at different levels. It is a significant science feast with the participation of numerous national and international scientists. It is a door of Turkey which opens to international Gerontology field. In addition to its scientific contributions, it contributes to the perception of image and various employment areas of our country. It does not only prove with scientific evidences that agedness is a life period which can be planned, but it calls attention to gerontological application areas. The objective is not only discussing the problems in detail; in contrast it is to put forward solutions and solve these problems. Furthermore, it is to warn local and centralized administrations against demographic developments for the sake of their young and dynamic future and to concretize the desire of conveying information they need for generating better social policies.

In order to prove that agedness does not mean loss of sufficiency but it is a process which is related to sufficiency acquisitions, people who grow older need economical, social and psychic accumulations and abilities through which they can make use of these accumulations. Thus, while sociological, psychological, cultural, medical, media, tourism, etc. dimensions were discussed in the first symposium in 2005, social and application dimensions of social ageing were addressed in the second one in 2006. In the third symposium held in 2008, taboo subjects were handled in addition to current gerontological subject matters. Now, we have been carrying on our studies for the purpose of opening our doors to Gerontology world for the fourth time in 2010.
In the symposium which shall demonstrate the ever changing aspects of agedness, we shall try to indicate that agedness can become a plannable and meaningful life period with conscious attempts. While informing about the will of increasing the number of active, dynamic and participant aged individuals and the way of realizing this will, we shall pay sufficient attention to the problems of aged people as well. While stating expressly that the number of active aged people shall increase with the attempts at different levels, we shall not ignore the specific problems which the patients of Alzheimer, which is one of the primary problems resulting from longevity, and their nurses encounter. While pointing out social, psychic and physical problems of agedness, we shall deal with the subject matters such as migration and agedness, changing aspect of migration and growing old in migration for the first time in this symposium. Moreover, we shall provide detailed information about the development of Turkey in Gerontology and the technology directed to aged individuals which Gerontology has been showing great interest in recent years in the symposium.
Thanks to its vision and mission which we consider to be significant for Turkey, our science world and society derive important experiences from the traditionalization of this symposium. I kindly invite you to 4th International Social and Applied Gerontology Symposium.
Respectively.