Meeting the Whole World in My Own City

Hello, I am Emine Akpınar.

I joined the “No More Walls, Europe Calls” Erasmus+ youth exchange hosted by KOZ-DER in my hometown, Kilis — the place where I was born and raised, and whose streets I know like the back of my hand. While many young people travel far away to have such an experience, for me the door to an international world opened right at home, in Kilis.

This 10-day journey not only gave me brand new perspectives and a wider vision, but also allowed me to look at this ancient city, where I walk every day, with completely different eyes.

Crossing Borders in Our Own Home

Throughout the project, we took part in highly interactive workshops focused on breaking down invisible walls and prejudices, as well as on inclusion and active youth participation. Together with my peers from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Georgia, we worked in multinational teams and developed solutions to shared social issues.

As someone from Kilis, one of the proudest parts of the project for me was introducing the cultural richness of our city to my friends. As we visited the Youth Centre and our historical mansions together, worked side by side during the grape harvest in Duruca Village, and shared the same table during the traditional sıra night, I once again realised how artificial borders actually are. While presenting our own culture to the world, I also had the opportunity to learn about their cultures firsthand.

What It Meant to Me

For me, this project was not just a training process. Hosting young people in my own city — people whose languages and cultures I had previously only seen on screens — gave me a great deal of self-confidence in terms of my personal development.

The deep friendships formed in such a short time and the sincere moments we shared created a universal bond of friendship in the narrow streets of Kilis. When we received our Youthpass certificates at the end of the project, what I carried with me was not only a document, but also the love of dozens of real friends in Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Georgia who now know me and will always be waiting for me.

Thanks

These 10 days in my own city have been engraved in my memory as some of the most intense, most educational and most inspiring days of my life.

I would like to sincerely thank KOZ-DER, which gave us the opportunity to discover the world in our own home and fully supported local young people in becoming active individuals on an international level, Kilis 7 Aralık University, and all the local and international participants who shared this beautiful journey with me.

This story, written in my hometown Kilis, will remain one of the most special Erasmus+ experiences I will proudly remember throughout my life.