TÜRKİYE’DE SİVİL TOPLUM KURULUŞLARININ HALK SAĞLIĞI POLİTİKALARINA KATKISI: YEŞİLAY VE YEDAM ÜZERİNDEN BİR DEĞERLENDİRME: THE CONTRIBUTION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS TO PUBLIC HEALTH POLICIES IN TÜRKİYE: AN EVALUATION THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF YEŞİLAY AND YEDAM

Kıvanç ARSLAN

doi:10.5281/zenodo.15448484

Authors

Kıvanç ARSLAN ORDU ÜNİVERSİTESİ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3431-5951

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15448484

Keywords:

Keywords: Public Health Policies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Addiction Prevention, Green Crescent, Green Crescent Counseling Center.

Abstract

The Turkish Green Crescent Society (Yeşilay), established in Istanbul in 1920, is a well-established non-governmental organization that combats all types of addictions threatening society, primarily alcohol and drugs. The primary objective of the Society is to protect individuals from addictions such as tobacco, alcohol, drugs, gambling, technology, and the internet, based on the principle of human dignity; to raise public awareness, and to contribute to the upbringing of healthy generations. Operating across Turkey with 120 branches and 105 Green Crescent Counseling Centers (YEDAM), including one in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the organization provides both preventive and rehabilitative services.

Through educational programs such as the Turkey Addiction Prevention Program, School-Based Intervention for Addiction, and Green Crescent Life Skills Education, which are developed in collaboration with many public institutions, especially the Ministry of National Education, millions of students and adults are reached. YEDAM (Green Crescent Counseling Center) provides free counseling services with expert psychologists and social workers in the areas of alcohol, substance, tobacco, gambling, and technology addictions. It aims to reintegrate individuals into society through telephone counseling, face-to-face meetings, group therapy sessions, social support, and workshop activities. At the international level, Green Crescent also operates in 34 countries through the International Green Crescent Federation (IGCF).

With its 104-year institutional legacy, Yeşilay has established itself as an influential policy actor in Turkey’s public health policymaking through its multidimensional activities in the field of addiction prevention. This study evaluates the protective, preventive, and rehabilitative contributions of civil society to public health within the structural, functional, and policy-making contexts, using the example of Yeşilay and YEDAM.

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THE CONTRIBUTION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS TO PUBLIC HEALTH POLICIES IN TURKEY: AN EVALUATION THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF YEŞİLAY AND YEDAM