Participating in the Y7 Summit, a Gathering of Future Leaders Aged Thirty and Under

In the lead-up to the G7 Summit held in Iseshima in May, young future leaders aged 30 years and under from the G7 nations gathered in Tokyo from April 30 to May 3 for the Y7 Summit. Representing G7 countries they were chosen to discuss the topics on the G7 agenda. Creating a final communique they presented their voice to G7 Leaders at Summit. Emile Yilmaz, an international student at Sophia University Green Science and Engineering Master Program in the Graduate School of Science and Technology, attended the Y7 Summit as an observer, representing his home country of Turkey.

At the summit, many delegates were interested to hear Emile's opinion on the topic regarding global security. In his response "We shall not capture the fact which large number of refugees reaching Turkey from Syria, our neighboring country as a problem. Instead, we shall seek to discover the value in our culture to be diversified through co-existence." When other members expressed their views linking terrorism to Islam and Middle Eastern nations, he shared his opinion that the main cause for the terrorism is ignorance therefore education is the key to the solution. Active discussion among members followed after his comment.

Born and raised in the city of İzmit in Turkey's north-west, Emile and his entire family were forced to move to the large metropolis of Istanbul in 1999 after his home town was devastated by a major earthquake. Due to his personal experience, Emile sympathizes deeply with the victims of Japan's earthquake disasters he says.

A dyed-in-the-wool Japanophile, Emile was captivated by the Japanese food he tried in his home country for the first time and also by the books he read about Japanese history and culture; he had always dreamed of visiting Japan. The opportunity came in his third year at university through a six-month student exchange program. He tells that, for him, Japan's greatest attraction lies in the co-existence of a sophisticated culture and state-of-the-art technology.

After graduating from university, Emile began working as an engineer with an American automotive manufacturer located in his home town. Recognizing the emerging needs to increase the knowledge on his expertise to excel further, he attended an international study abroad fair. His sight set on Japan, a pamphlet for Sophia University that he picked up at that fair prompted him to send an e-mail to Professor Takashi Suzuki of the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which eventually led to him enrolling at Sophia.

Emile is currently involved in the development of a diesel engine that achieves dramatically high energy efficiency. His eyes gleamed as he spoke of how rewarding it is for him to be involved in this massive project, which is being pursued jointly with other universities as well as with the cooperation of several major Japanese automotive manufacturers.