ELSA Turkey

ELSA was founded on May 4th 1981 in Vienna by students from Poland, Austria, Hungary and West Germany. The idea was to promote international contacts and mutual understanding among law students on both sides of the iron curtain. Within a very short time, the association grew stronger and expanded into the northern part of Europe. Most of the counci... l meetings took place in Copenhagen and Helsinki, and the first international office of ELSA was situated in Oslo in 1984. In 1986, ELSA had 9 members and two observers. The structure began taking form, with the international board having three "vice - chairmen", each of them responsible for his/her own area. "Seminars and Conferences" got off to an early start with the first international seminar organised in Tannenfelde, Germany, less than a year from the founding of ELSA. "Scientific Activities" (now "Academic Activities"), included ideas such as the review-programme. This was to provide legal assistance by using the ELSA network to collect information and juridical knowledge (later "the ELSA Law Web"), and the "European Yearbook of Law" published by students and consisting of articles by professors and students (later the "ELSA Law Review", then "ELSA SPEL"). "Short-Term Exchange Programme" (now "Student Trainee Exchange Programme") developed through the "Canadian Training Programme". In 1984 and 1985, 13 trainees from 8 different countries were sent to Canada. At the council meeting in Groningen in October 1985, the abbreviation STEP was born. By 1991, ELSA had almost 30 members and observers. The council meetings already had between 100 and 200 participants from some 15 countries, and the number of STEP trainees per year had increased to around 100. The number of seminars was rising steadily and the year 1990 gave a real boost with 27 seminars in 14 countries within one year. Contacts had been established with ILSA and other international student organisations and two annual international meetings did not suffice anymore. Since 1990, two extra presidents ...Read More