A  FLIGHT MEMORY  

Dr. Erdal KARABAŞ

MITAGED-Vice President

I had been planning to flight from Istanbul, Sabiha Gokcen Airport of Istanbul to Antalya by the Turkish Airlines on March 21, 2007.  I came to the Airport with Dr. Enver Ahmetoglu, the Consultant of International security in MITAGED.  When we went in to the plane, Dr. Ahmetoglu took the window seat and I seated near him. There was only one empty place at our row. A man was sitting at my right side. His features indicated that he's from Turkey. Therefore, at first I spoke with him in Turkish but he replied in English. After introducing ourselves, I learned that he is Mr. Aly Shady, the president of International Water Resource Association (IWRA). He visited Turkey to attend the Congress of River Basin Management organized by the State Water Administration of Turkey (DSI).

  We had conversation about various subjects like environmental protection, water pollutions, water resource of Turkey, political phenomenon in Turkey and the world. After speaking with Mr. Shady, I noticed one more time that there are special people in the world and Mr. Shady is one of them. He is a humanitarian and loves the world he lives in. Following our conversation taking place on clouds, I took the permission to share it with my audience. He also promised me that he would contribute to our magazine "Yerel Dunya" through his letters.     

 As Mr. Shady, who is enjoying his 65th years, is a very prominent figure in the world, I would like to give brief information about Aly Shady.  

 Mr. Aly Shady is Sr. Water Advisor at the Canadian International development Agency (CIDA). He graduated from Cairo University (Egypt) and McGill University (Canada). Developing and managing more than 85 major projects, in more than 38 countries located in South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Shady authored and co-authored over 100 technical articles and textbooks on a variety of water related topics.  He was also served as the resident of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) for 2003-2006, President Honoraire of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), Co-founder of the World Water Council (WWC), member of the International Water Academy, and founding member of the Arab Water Council (AWC). Mr. Shady has received several awards including his recognition by the Head of Canada’s Public Service Award for Excellency in Policy in 2000, the Gold Medal Award of the Professional Institute of Public Service Canada (PIPSC) in 2002 and the Canada’s Governors General - Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee medal in 2002.