Meet our Chair and the members of the Board of Management.

Mr. Şener Elcil Hassan

Member of The Board of Management

Mr Şener Elcil Hassan was born in Kalavasos, Larnaca in 1963. He had to migrate with his family twice due to the societal incidents and conflicts in Cyprus in 1960s and 1970s. After completing his high school education in Famagusta, he graduated from Teacher Training College in 1984 and worked in various schools as primary school teacher. In 1986, Mr Elcil Hassan started to take an active role as a unionist and he is continuing his career as General Secretary of Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Trade Union (KTÖS) since 2001.
Mr Elcil Hassan has a sincere belief in universal humanitarian values, brotherhood and sisterhood of people around the world and he recognizes the peace as a virtue. Therefore, he puts in significant effort for re-unification of Cyprus against the ongoing invasion and division of Cyprus since 1974; demilitarizing and disarmament of the island and; contributing to the struggle of Cypriots demanding respect to their political will and human rights.
Mr Elcil Hassan always argues that peace cannot be established by armaments but only through education. Based on this perspective, he initiates the organization of numerous conferences, training seminars and projects on anti-racist education, social justice and peace education, disarmament and gender issues in education for constructing peace culture among students, teachers and school leaders. Besides, he endeavours to promote free, quality and democratic education for all in the society.
Mr Elcil Hassan has been elected to the General Assembly of European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) as country representative for Cyprus in 2008 and 2012. Moreover, he put in great effort to lead the way for a historic cooperation agreement that has been signed by 6 Teacher Unions in Cyprus representing the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. The agreement includes a rotation between the two communities on the country seat in the ETUCE Committee for periods of 2 years.
Mr Elcil Hassan has taken a pioneer role not only in the field of education but also in the Establishment Committees of Home for Cooperation, Queer Cyprus Association, Bi-communal Teachers Platform and many others in Cyprus.