In addition to the rapid developments in the field of urinary system cancers, the high level of professional and scientific productivity among our colleagues and their strong interest in urooncology eventually led us to the idea of sharing our knowledge and experience under the umbrella of an association and creating a sense of social solidarity.

Initially, under the leadership of our experienced colleagues, our collaboration was limited to some nationwide meetings and multi-center studies. Later on, we tried to partially structure this collaboration as the Urooncology Sub-working Group under the umbrella of the Turkish Urology Association. However, these efforts were not sufficient for the urologists who deal intensively with urooncology in their daily practice, and they did not fully meet the expectations of working, producing, and sharing.

To meet these needs, in 1999, our group came together under the roof of the Urooncology Association with the aim of organizing national and international scientific meetings and congresses, preparing publications such as journals and books to be used in urooncology education, continuing academic development activities after medical school and specialization, conducting research, supporting the professional development and training of its members, protecting and enhancing their rights, and, when necessary, cooperating with state bodies and legal entities in line with its objectives to create synergy and utility.

The first Board of Directors of our Association was formed under the founding presidency of Dr. Atıf Akdaş, and included Dr. Haluk Özen, Dr. Ahmet Erözenci, Dr. Yaşar Bedük, Dr. Erdinç Ünlüer, Dr. Levent Türkeri, and Dr. Ziya Kırkalı. You can access the Boards of Directors formed in the following terms on the association’s website.

Since its establishment, the Urooncology Association has developed an intensive program of scientific and professional meetings in line with its objectives stated in its charter. In addition to the biennially organized congresses, regional meetings are held at least three times a year to support colleagues working outside major centers. Also, spring meetings are held twice a year as routine activities where current scientific topics are discussed, and research is planned with the participation of our members.

The origin of our most significant scientific event, the Urooncology Congress, dates back to the International Ankara Urooncology Course, first organized under the leadership of Dr. Haluk Özen in 1992. At our first course in the founding year of the association, we achieved a high turnout with 9 distinguished foreign speakers. In our 2001 course held in Antalya, due to the unfortunate events of September 11, only one foreign guest was able to attend; however, we successfully completed the course with many competent local speakers and 650 participants.

After our 8th Urooncology Course, which hosted fourteen foreign speakers and over a thousand participants, we began meeting with our colleagues under the structure of the Urooncology Congress. The 10th Urooncology Congress, which coincided with the anniversary of the foundation of our Republic, holds special significance and value for us.

Our Urooncology Congresses, which have become a classic in Turkish urology and set the standards for national meetings and current urooncology practices, aim to meet our colleagues’ expectations with programs addressing societal and social needs. We are honored to have hosted intellectuals like Prof. Emre Kongar and İlhan Selçuk at our congress.

To standardize services and knowledge in the field of urooncology across the country, our association launched the “Urooncology School” program in 2008 to support the training of residents in clinics that train urology specialists. Under the leadership of Dr. Ahmet Erözenci and Dr. Çağ Çal, the program was designed to provide both theoretical and practical urooncology education. Residents from across Turkey were hosted within Ege University Faculty of Medicine. The students accepted into the program, with the support of our association, received 2 days of theoretical education and had the opportunity to participate in 15-day practical studies in leading urooncology clinics.

The Urooncology Association also supports colleagues who wish to continue their training abroad with scholarships.

The contributions of our colleagues who have stood out with their scientific studies and services in the field of urooncology are honored with our association’s Science and Research Awards. The awardees to date are as follows:

• 2005 Science Award: Dr. Sümer Baltacı, Research Award: Dr. Sinan Sözen

• 2007 Science Award: Dr. Can Öbek, Research Award: Dr. Saadettin Eskiçorapçı and Dr. Taner Divrik

• 2009 Science Award: Dr. Levent Türkeri, Research Award: Dr. Aydın Mungan and Dr. Öztuğ Adsan

• 2011 Science Award: Dr. Yaşar Bedük, Research Award: Dr. Fehmi Narter and Dr. Taner Divrik, Service Award: Dr. Atıf Akdaş

As our association was the only one of its kind and covered the entire country, we made our first official application in November 2008 to adopt the name “Turkish”. However, based on the opinion of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Interior rejected this request, arguing that the main members consisted only of urologists and that medical oncology, radiation oncology, and pathology specialists—who are considered essential parts of the field—could only be consultant members and did not have voting rights. Accordingly, we decided at our first general assembly that these members could also become regular members. In our 2009 application, although we met all the necessary requirements and there were no similar associations, our request was once again rejected, this time without any justification, again based on the opinion of the Ministry of Health. We did not even receive a response to our requests for information regarding the reasoning. Although we could not obtain the “Turkish” title, our association qualifies as a national organization and a prestigious brand that conducts high-level urooncological studies.

Our association has developed a highly qualified and extensive publication policy. The Urooncology Bulletin, which started its publication life in February 2002, is printed periodically four times a year. Each issue contains in-depth review articles and educational case presentations on a specific topic. In addition, digital visual presentations of urooncological surgeries, prepared for all urologists, are provided along with the bulletin. The Urooncology Bulletin is delivered to approximately 2000 colleagues throughout Turkey.

The Urooncology Association has proven its claim to provide educational services to its colleagues in every aspect by publishing 5 comprehensive and original books to date in its field of work. The first book, the Urooncology Book, edited by Dr. Haluk Özen and Dr. Levent Türkeri and prepared with the contributions of 125 authors, was presented to our colleagues in 2007. Later publications included:

• New Horizons in Urology: Urooncology, edited by Dr. Sümer Baltacı

• Urooncological Laparoscopy Atlas, edited by Dr. Sinan Sözen and Dr. Cenk Bilen

• Open Surgery Atlas of Urooncology, edited by Dr. Aydın Mungan, Dr. Bülent Akdoğan, and Dr. Kamil Çam

• Molecular Urology, edited by Dr. Levent Türkeri, Dr. Ayşe Özer, and Dr. Fehmi Narter

Today, with more than 300 members, our association continues to serve Turkish urooncology through specialized working groups in the areas of Prostate Diseases, Bladder Tumors, Kidney-Testis Tumors, Quality of Life, Minimally Invasive Urooncology, and Pathology.

Prepared through the efforts of Prof. Dr. Yaşar Bedük.