THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION OF THE DEAF WAS HELD IN MADRID

The General Assembly of the European Union of the Deaf (EUD) was held in Madrid, Spain on 20 - 23 May 2010. The most striking point of this General Assembly was the amendment of the statute of the European Union of the Deaf. Turkish National Federation of the Deaf participated to the General Assembly at the presidential level. Ercüment Tanrıverdi, the President of the Turkish National Federation of the Deaf and Ünal Öner, one of the Board Members of the Turkish National Federation of the Deaf, who are also delegates of the European Union of the Deaf and Ibrahim Toraman, the International Relations Coordinator of the Turkish National Federation of the Deaf were present at the General Assembly meetings.
Since Turkish National Federation of the Deaf is candidate for the 17th World Congress of the Deaf, participating to the General Assembly of the European Union of the Deaf had another meaning for the prominent of the Federation. On the last day of the General Assemble, Ercüment Tanrıverdi made a presentation about the activities of the Turkish National Federation of the Deaf and asked for the support of the members of the European Union of the Deaf. After his presentation, Vasil Panev, the President of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria and also one of the honorary members of the World Federation of the Deaf addressed to the participants and stated that, as being the president of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria, he backs the candidacy of the Turkish National Federation of the Deaf for the 17th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf and added that other European countries’ deaf federations should also support the candidacy of the Turkish Federation. At the end of his address, Panev was applauded by all the participants with great enthusiasm. Turkish National Federation of the Deaf is looking forward to receiving the support of the European countries’ deaf federations support during the voting at the 16th Congress.
The European Union of the Deaf holds its General Assembly once in a year. At the meetings the problems of the deaf of European countries and the ways of solving these problems are being evaluated. Turkish National Federation of the Deaf has become a member of the European Union of the Deaf in May 2009 and since then its cooperation on technical and cultural issues increased rapidly.