Introductory Meeting Report

BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LAW ANIMAL AND NATURE LAW LABORATORY INTRODUCTORY MEETING REPORT

The introductory meeting of the Animal and Nature Law Laboratory (HDH), established within the Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Law, was held on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, from 14:30 to 15:20 in classroom HUK 201, with the participation of Dr. Serkan Köybaşı, Research Assistant Ecem Çoban Bilici and Research Assistant Efe Eroğlu, and 12 students. Giving the opening speech, Dr. Serkan Köybaşı began by explaining what HDH is and its internal structure. Accordingly, HDH consists primarily of two main sub-units: the Animal Law and Nature Law units. In addition to these units, a translation team led by BAU Law student M. Enes Gündüz was established.

Participation in the units will be on a voluntary basis by students who wish to work in the fields of animal law or nature law. Within these units, students will carry out literature reviews in their fields, follow relevant websites and organize debate activities.

The preparation of a newsletter on the HDH website was also discussed, as was publishing the newsletter on Twitter and Instagram. Students were assigned responsibility for the HDH website and social media accounts. Students experienced in video and content production also volunteered to contribute in these areas.

It was decided that a book on animal or nature law would be read each month, followed by a face-to-face discussion of the book. A reading group was established within the laboratory, and its coordinator was chosen on a voluntary basis.

It was decided to identify books in the fields of animal and nature law that are not available in the university library and to work toward adding them to the library over time.

It was also decided to hold in-house trainings within the Laboratory at regular intervals and to organize social activities with the students working at HDH.

Due to its ease of use, it was decided to use the Telegram app as HDH's communication channel. Those who wish to receive news from HDH on Telegram can follow this account:

HDH-ANL Lab(Main account. Only administrators can post messages.)

The groups currently active in HDH are:

HDH – Animal Clinic

HDH – Nature Clinic

HDH – Culture Team

HDH – Translation Team

As long-term plans, it was determined to develop projects in the fields of animal law and nature law, to follow significant cases in these fields in Türkiye, and to work on writing "amicus curiae" briefs for these cases. It was planned to hold a conference or panel every semester, if possible. It was also agreed that workshops led by experts in their fields and informative events would be organized within HDH.

At the end of the meeting, Dr. Serkan Köybaşı gave the floor to the students and asked them to share their expectations and suggestions.