Dear Members, Healthcare Professionals, Company Officials and Students,

We are honored and happy to invite you to the "2. INTERNATIONAL BALKAN PROSTHETICS-ORTHOTICS SYMPOSIUM" to organize on 15-16 October 2020 in Prizren University. We believe that the symposium will consist of high scientific content sessions, innovative topics and important discussions. It will be possible for our international symposium to be a symposium that will leave a mark in the minds with the scientific program and the support and contributions of our participants.

Aims of the Turkish Scientific Association of Prosthetics-Orthotics founded in 1998 in Ankara are to organize educational and scientific activities such as congress, symposium, course; to share scientific and technological developments with its members; to reflect these developments to patients; to ensure optimum use of prosthesis and orthotic resources; to cooperate with national and international organizations in the field of prosthesis and orthotics; to discuss the problems encountered; to provide information exchange between physicians, physiotherapists, engineers, prosthetist-orthotists, and orthopedic prosthesis-orthotics technicians working in this field, and to perform prosthesis-orthotic rehabilitation in developed countries standard.

Kosovo, is the smallest country of the Balkans which Turkey also is a part. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008 and is now known as the Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo, a landlocked country, borders Serbia in the north and east, Macedonia in the south, Albania in the west, and Montenegro in the northwest. Prizren is the second important city of Kosovo, located in the southern part of Kosovo, 75 km southwest of the capital Pristina. Prizren is one of the most important centers of Islamic culture in the Balkans with its many mosques, madrasahs, baths, and dervish lodges. Even today, the whole region maintains its Ottoman character in the framework of the law of preserving cultural monuments. It can be spoken in Albanian, Turkish, and Serbian by the townspeople, as well as used in newspapers, magazines, and even street names.

It is extremely important for those working in the prosthesis-orthotic field to increase the capacity, improve the quality, and raise the standards of the service provided in the field. Many professionals from Balkan countries and Turkey has attended the first symposium that we held in Edirne which aimed to increase cooperation in the field of prosthesis-orthotics among Balkan countries, to improve communication between professionals, to provide an environment that can open the way for common work, to improve the prosthesis-orthotic production capacity and quality in the region. With this symposium, by bringing together the rehabilitation team working in the prosthesis-orthotic field, it has contributed to the strengthening of scientific shares and social associations and the development of cooperation between the professionals working in the prosthesis-orthotic field and the companies serving in this field. We believe that this symposium, which will be held with the participation of Balkan Countries under the leadership of the Turkish Scientific Association of Prosthetics-Orthotics will be beneficial for developing cooperation and communication between professionals working in the field of prosthesis and orthotics and companies providing services in this field.

For this purpose, many local and foreign professionals will contribute to the 2. International Balkan Prosthetics-Orthotics Symposium. The main topics of the symposium are; Prosthetics, Orthotics, Rehabilitation, Phantom Pain, Neuro-orthotic Technologies in Upper Extremity, Shoes in Terms of Prophylaxis and Treatment in Rheumatological Diseases, Smart Upper Extremity Orthoses, Telerehabilitation for Prosthesis-Orthosis, Prosthesis-Orthosis and COVID-19 Pandemic, Microprocessor Prostheses, Digital Technologies, Mobile Technologies, Adaptive Prostheses, Sport Specific Prosthetics, Diabetic Foot, Orthoses and Rehabilitation for Hand Injuries, Gait Disorders. Our symposium will include panel, conference, session, workshop, free papers and poster presentations containing these topics. All presentations will be published in the e-book that will be created on our symposium website.

We will be happy to be together with our valuable participants in this symposium, which aims to strengthen the social partnerships as well as scientific exchanges by bringing together the rehabilitation team working in the field of Prosthetics and Orthotics.

Yours sincerely and affectionately,

              Levent Buş                                                                                   Professor Dr. Fatih Erbahçeci

Physiotherapist, Prosthetist-orthotist                                 President of Turkish Scientific Association of Prosthetics-Orthotics