On behalf of the Organizing Committee I have the pleasure to invite you to attend the 61^st Turkish Geological Congress to be held during  March 24-28, 2008 in Ankara-Turkey. The Turkish Geological Congress is the most fundamental congress of the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and has been carried out regularly for 60 years since 1947. This year, the Congress will be organised by the Chamber of Geological Engineers and is sponsored by Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) and General Directorate of MTA.

We are expecting a large participation of professionals and colleagues from public and private sector and from universities, to the congress both from Turkey and all countries. During the congress, sessions will be held on the presentation of the results of researches about basic geological problems, along with sessions on the actual geological issues concerning our society and the international community. In relation to these, special meetings and sessions are planned on such topics as the future of the geology education; energy, environmental problems, planning of water resources, geographical information systems, earthquake management, geoarchaeology, medical geology and bio-geology. 

On the other hand, owing to their extraordinarily complex geological setting, Anatolian and the Eastern Mediterranean regions are becoming the scope of numerous international researches and projects and also proving to be the focus of attention for international researchers. To acknowledge this intensive interest, workshops will be held for the first time this year on "the Seismicity of the Sea of Marmara", "Geology of the Taurides", "Neotectonics of the Western Anatolia" and "Geology Education and Ethics" with the participation of professional experts.

Turkey is intending and planning to carry her experience in organizing Geological Congresses for 60 years to an international platform. For this purpose, we are considering to be one of the candidate countries to organize the World Geology Congress 2016. As a preparation, we are organizing this year‘s congress in cooperation with international participants. We will therefore try to achieve the participation of earth scientists worldwide known in their fields as invited speakers to the 61^st Turkish Geological Congress.

We are expecting all earth scientists to join the 61^st Turkish Geological Congress to continue to collaborate and studies in earth sciences in Turkey at the top most international level; exchange information between earth scientists; create a scientific discussion environment, and provide an international cooperation between institutions and organizations concerned.