Organized by the Turkish Microbiology Society, TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform and Near East University DESAM Research Institute, Mathematics Research Center and Health Operations Center, the “Epidemic/Pandemic Diseases Symposium” was held at the İrfan Günsel Congress Center with the participation of President Ersin Tatar.
Date Added: 09 October 2022, 16:33
Last Updated Date:10 October 2022, 08:49


The “Epidemic/Pandemic Diseases Symposium”, held in cooperation with the Turkish Microbiology Society, TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform and Near East University DESAM Research Institute, Mathematics Research Center and Health Operations Center, was held at the Near East University İrfan Günsel Congress Center.

President Ersin Tatar, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Near East University, Prof. Dr. İrfan Suat Günsel, Near East University Acting Rector Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ, President of the Turkish Microbiology Society Prof. Dr. Sebahat Aksaray and TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal attended the opening ceremony.

The opening speeches of the symposium, which attracted great interest and participation, were respectively made by President Ersin Tatar, Near East University Acting Rector Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ, President of the Turkish Microbiology Society Prof. Dr. Sebahat Aksaray and Head of the TRNC Microbiology Platform Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal.

In the symposium, which started after the speeches, the topics of “Laboratory Method in Epidemics/Pandemics”, “The Importance of Mathematical Modeling in the Monitoring and Control of Epidemics/Pandemics”, “New Approaches in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Epidemics/Pandemics” and “Forgotten Infections in Epidemics/Pandemics” were discussed and many epidemic/pandemic diseases, especially COVID-19, were discussed.


President Ersin Tatar: “I am confident that the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform will make many more contributions to science and humanity in the future, as it does now.”
President Ersin Tatar, who started the opening speech of the Epidemic/Pandemic Diseases Symposium by talking about the problems and difficulties experienced during the pandemic period, said, “We have all gone through very difficult times. When the COVID-19 epidemic/pandemic first broke out, two young friends of mine, who were studying in Italy, called me and said that we had to take precautions or we could face millions of deaths. The gravity of the situation was clear.”

Stating that the pandemic process has affected people both economically and psychologically, President Tatar said, “As a result of the meetings with Dr. Suat Günsel, I also met with Prof. Tamer Şanlıdağ, our esteemed academician. The projects he put forward with his advanced knowledge and experience have made a great contribution to our ability to manage this pandemic disaster in the best way possible. Thus, we successfully announced the name of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to the World Health Organization and many organizations.”

Stating that many people, especially healthcare workers, have responsibilities, President Tatar said, “It is not clear what we shall encounter tomorrow. We must always be vigilant and aware of our responsibilities.”

President Tatar said, “I am confident that the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform will make many more contributions to science and humanity in the future, as it does now. It is always valuable and important to move forward in the light of science and to contribute something to ourselves and our country. Near East University, on the other hand, has achieved and continues to achieve many successes based on this awareness.”


Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ: “COVID-19 was neither the first pandemic nor will it be the last. But we have learned a lot from COVID-19. We are more prepared for future pandemics. We will never get tired of producing and developing.”
Starting his speech by saying that history should also be seen as a struggle between humans and microbes, Near East University Acting Rector Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ said, “The ongoing struggle between humans and microbes has a different history. According to Crawford, microbes are always one step ahead of humans in this fight. And it has affected our history by deeply affecting our evolutionary process and causing so many deaths.”

Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ, addressing President Ersin Tatar, said “The Lancet, an international medical journal, determined in a report that the failure of governments during the COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of preventable deaths” and said, “We, on the other hand, are the first to see the COVID-19 pandemic in our country. We have been at the forefront of the countries that give the best test in the world on this way that we have set out with the belief of ‘We will succeed together since day one.”

Stating that as Near East University, they are constantly working actively during the pandemic process and never stop producing, Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ said, “We have shared with you our respirators, our local COVID-19 PCR and Variant Analysis Kit, and our nasal spray Olirin, which we developed and produced at the Near East University during the pandemic, and made available for the use of our people and the state. In addition to all these, we continued our work with important investments such as our Genome Analysis Laboratory, which put an end to our country’s dependence on foreign sources in the genetic analysis of many diseases, especially genetic diseases and cancer.”

Stating that as Near East University, they have produced more than 1600 scientific articles and achieved many successes in the field of health, Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ said, “We have 375 studies on COVID-19, which were scanned in WOS and Scopus and published in the best journals of the field such as The Lancet, Lancet Microbiology, Nature, Journal of Infection.”

Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ said, “COVID-19 was neither the first pandemic nor will it be the last. But we have learned a lot from COVID-19. We are more prepared for future pandemics. We will never get tired of producing and developing.”


Prof. Dr. Sebahat Aksaray: “With the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform established in 2019, another missing part of us has been completed and the cooperation and bond between the two countries have become stronger.”
President of the Turkish Microbiology Society Prof. Dr. Sebahat Aksaray started her opening speech by saying, “The Turkish Microbiology Society is a big and well-established association with a 90-year history and 2,500 active members.”

Stating that TMC is a community that supports education and science, Prof. Dr. Aksaray said, “As the TMC community, we aim to contribute to science and humanity by bringing together many scientists working on microbiology. Scientists share their experiences with us in this community. With the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform established in 2019, another missing part of us has been completed and the cooperation and bond between the two countries have become stronger.”

Saying that she congratulates and supports the work the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform has done so far, Prof. Dr. Sebahat Aksaray said, “We are excited to be together with our Northern Cypriot colleagues at the Turkish Microbiology Society Congress, which we will hold internationally in Antalya soon. Today, I would like to thank everyone who was with us at this seminar and gave us these opportunities.”


Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal: “Next month, we will attend the TMC 2022 Congress to be held in Antalya to share the results of all the scientific studies we have conducted.”
Near East University Medical Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Department Lecturer and TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform Head Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal said that the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform was established on April 2, 2019, and said, “This task, which I took over from Our founding president, Prof. Dr. Tamer Şanlıdağ, is a very meaningful and special task for me. Because our country hosts many scientists from the fields of medicine, microbiology and infectious diseases. TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform succeeds in bringing many scientists together as it does today.”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal said, “It is one of our most important goals to contribute to science by bringing together all our colleagues working in the field of health, conducting research, and participating in seminars, trainings and congresses held in the TRNC.”

Reminding that the TMC-TRNC Microbiology Platform held its first meeting in 2020 and that the COVID-19 pandemic soon followed, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal said, “Our platform has worked non-stop despite all the setbacks. First of all, we held the Applied COVID-19 PCR Academy. Our colleagues from many laboratories in our country received training on this subject.” Stating that they organized many online seminars afterwards, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Buket Baddal said, “Recently, we organized the Artificial Intelligence Applied Course with the TMC Tuberculosis Working Group on Diagnosis and Methods in Tuberculosis. Next month, we will attend the TMC 2022 Congress to be held in Antalya to share the results of all the scientific studies we have conducted.”