This week's session of the Senate and Board of Directors Meeting, which is routinely held to evaluate the planned studies at the university and discuss the agenda items, was held at the Biodiversity Application and Research Centre.

Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı, who opened the Atatürk University Biodiversity Science Museum (ABMM) within the Biodiversity Application and Research Centre before the meeting, stated that they made a note in history by officially opening the museum, which has been accepting guests for about a year, with the Senate and Board of Directors Meeting. The ceremony was attended by the Vice Rectors, the Secretary General of the University, the members of the Senate and the Board of Directors and the employees of the centre.

Rector Çomaklı: ‘We carry out our work with the awareness of the responsibility of the present generation towards future generations’

Rector Çomaklı, who made a short speech at the opening ceremony, emphasised that each life form in the ecosystem is unique and that every organism in the world has the right to exist, whether it is valuable to humans or not. Stating that the current generation has a social responsibility towards future generations, Çomaklı said: ‘This responsibility also imposes on us the necessity of protecting all living organisms in the world. It is very important to take necessary measures to protect our biodiversity, which is under threat today, and to transfer it to future generations. We carried out our first studies in this field, which we were aware of its importance before we took office, as soon as we came to the administration and started the establishment of our centre. This work, which we carried out with the university's own resources, reached an important level in a short time. Our centre, which continues its projects in cooperation with many world universities, especially our country, also carries out a process intertwined with the society with its Biodiversity Science Museum.’

Stating that the Biodiversity Museum, which contains many living species in the world and attracts the attention of everyone from 7 to 70 in this direction, is very important especially for children to develop their imagination and get to know the world they live in more closely, Rector Çomaklı said that they are proud to have brought it to Erzurum, which is located at the intersection of Eastern Anatolia.

Prof. Dr. Gültekin: ‘We Conduct Joint Research with International Scientists’

Prof. Dr. Levent Gültekin, Director of the Centre, stated that there are basically 4 laboratories such as animal and plant kingdom laboratory and taxonomy and molecular systematics in the Application and Research Centre, and that they conduct joint research with international scientists and transfer information to the society through education and application laboratories, and that they have intensively scanned every point of the world, especially the Eastern Anatolia Region, and that they have taken the special species they have found under protection, and that they are also making an intense effort to fulfil their responsibilities towards future generations.

The museum has a collection of 250 thousand individuals and 10 thousand species

Prof. Dr. Levent Gültekin, who also shared information about the Biodiversity Science Museum established within the Application and Research Centre, said that the collection of 250 thousand individuals and 10 thousand species collected in 60 years from all over Turkey and the world, especially Eastern Anatolia, is carefully preserved in the museum. Gültekin stated that high-level scientific researches are carried out with the support of the university's own resources and Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı in the museum, where there are many species of plants, insects, mammals, reptiles, fish and fossils from millions of years ago, as well as giant mammoth, dinosaur and whale replica collections, and that it is aimed to protect biodiversity and contribute to society in terms of education.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE - 04.05.2024