Selçuk Şahin

Selçuk Şahin was born on November 4,1939 in Bursa. (Official ID registration 01.07.1940). As his father was an officer and his mother a primary school teacher, they traveled from one end of the country to the other. They lived in Kırklareli Vize, Doğubeyazıt, Çankırı, Kırıkkale, Bolu, and Ermenek.

Selçuk Şahin went to secondary school in Bolu and attended high school at Bursa Boys’ High School,  graduating in 1957.
He then passed the scholarship exam and was sent to England to study Electronic Engineering. He graduated from the Technical University of Manchester  in 1964 with an M.Sc.Tech diploma. He served in the army for 2 years as a Communications Reserve Officer. Then, he worked at the PTT General Headquarters, at  Hacettepe University- Faculty of Engineering, and at Netaş.

In 2000, he retired from his own company, Elkotek, which he had founded in 1990. He settled in Bodrum in 2002. In 2010, he started the Herodotus 3rd Age Academy (H3A) with a core of 7 people. He served as the president of the association for the first 6 years and then, handed it down to his wife , Camille. He currently continues to serve as an honorary member of the association.

He is married to Camille Şahin, whom he met in England during his university years. He has a son, a daughter and 4 grandchildren.

Camille Şahin

Camille Lees (maiden name) Date of birth:  31.08.1946 Place: Southport, UK

Education:

Moss Nook Comprehension School Fielden Park Commercial College Manchester, UK She met Selçuk Şahin during his university years in the UK. They got married and have lived in Turkey ever since.

Work experience in Ankara, Turkey :

Camille was the PA for the Director of the Mission, Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (CARE), from 1967 to 1974.

CARE  was working with the  Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) in those days.

Projects included aiding the earthquake victims, milk powder distribution and giving “Self Sustainance” trainings, including food preservation, to villages in Turkey .

The following years were taken up by life in Istanbul, bringing up their children, learning Turkish and becoming assimilated into Turkish life and society.

Samer Atasi

Born in Damascus in 1947, Samer Atasi pursued his formal education in Damascus, Beirut and France. Thus he completed Baccalaureat at “International College” in Beirut in 1965, “Automatismes” at “Ecole Superieure d’electricite” in Paris in 1970, “Docteur Ingenieur” at the Universite de Grenoble in 1972 and “Docteur es Sciences Mathematiques” at the Universite de Paris in 1975..
The first decade of Samer’s career began in the academic world in France. In the second decade, Samer founded and managed IBM’s scientific research center collaborating on research projects with Arab countries. He settled in Turkey in 1988, then founded and managed the company “Universal Elektronik Ltd” in Istanbul until 2010, when he transferred his shares and retired in Bodrum. He served as the president of the H3A association between 2018-2022.
He spends his life and time with his wife Aslı, whom he met in 2005, by participating in the wonderful environment created by H3A, having pleasant meetings with his children living in 4 different countries, improving his language knowledge (currently 7 languages in total) and pursuing his interest in artificial intelligence.

Eftal Köklü

Born in Bursa in 1951, he graduated from Saint Joseph French Boys’ High School in 1970 and METU Civil Engineering Department in 1975. He worked in construction site, project and company manager positions in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as Turkey. In the last 12 years of his professional career, he worked as a consultant in the implementation phases of Solid Waste Management projects carried out with international funds. Bodrum METU Alumni Association (BODTÜM) Board of Directors Chairman. He served for two terms. He became a member of H3A in 2019, and served as Chairman of the H3A Board of Directors in the 2020-2022 period. He served as Vice and President in the 2022-2024 period.
His interests and hobbies outside of his profession include cinema, jazz and photography.
He and his wife, Pharmacist Filiz Hanım, have been living in Bodrum continuously for 12 years. They have a son and two grandchildren.

Didem Keremoğlu

Ş. Didem Keremoğlu was born in Istanbul in 1962. She studied at “Kültür Okulları” and completed her university education in England. She worked as an English teacher for a short period before spending twenty-one years in the civil aviation sector. She held positions as station/operations manager at two international airlines within the same sector. She was assigned duties related to her profession in the Far East, Turkic Republics, and Africa. Additionally, she served on the management board of an international association active in civil aviation.

She has published three short story books and over forty short stories in both print and online magazines and literary platforms. Her works have won awards in competitions and have been included in collaborative books and anthologies.

In Bodrum, Muğla, where she resides, she develops and implements literature projects in collaboration with local non-governmental organizations and schools. She also conducts voluntary workshops with aspiring young writers and works as a freelance editor.