12 Apr 2026 Meeting Colorectal Surgery

Recently, the Turkish Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery (TKRCD) established ‘Task Forces’ covering topics within its field of interest and invited society members to join these groups. One of these groups was the ‘Abdominal Wall Task Force,’ which caught my attention immediately. I applied and was selected — something that brought me great joy. A new pursuit and a new source of excitement for me!

Below, I am sharing verbatim the motivation and contribution statement I submitted with my application:

“I became a general surgeon in 1994. I have been interested in abdominal wall and hernia surgery from the very beginning and have developed myself in this field. For the past decade of my surgical career, I have focused exclusively on abdominal wall surgery — meaning I stepped away from the other side of surgery. Anything intra-abdominal interests me only if it involves the abdominal wall.

My surgical experience of over 30 years has taught me that prevention is superior to treatment — and the same holds true in hernia surgery. Incisional hernias are a significant problem: approximately 20% of abdominal incisions result in incisional hernias, and recurrence rates following their repair also exceed 20%. Although minimally invasive surgery appears to reduce incisional hernias, this approach remains a luxury in much of the world. Parastomal hernias represent an important subgroup of this problem. I will never forget a sentence by the famous colorectal surgeon Goligher: “Every colostomy gets a hernia.” How true that is!

I am a founding member and current board member of the Turkish Hernia Society, where prevention of hernias is our primary policy. We pursue the same policy within the European Hernia Society. In colorectal surgery, incisional and parastomal hernias are also a significant concern — and their frequency can be reduced.

TKRCD is one of our most distinguished and successful societies. Through the activities and projects of this task force, I aim to reach more colleagues, raise their awareness, enhance their knowledge and skills, and establish a high national standard through multi-center studies.”

Along with this motivation statement, I also outlined the following key topics:

• Prevention of incisional hernias: Updating abdominal incision opening and closing techniques. Prophylactic mesh placement.
• Prevention of parastomal hernias: Stoma creation and closure. Prophylactic mesh placement.
• Repair of incisional hernias.
• Repair of parastomal hernias.
• Perineal hernias.

Motivation letters of this kind matter — they must be crafted with care. When seeking a role, you need to articulate clearly what contribution you will make. In collaborative work, sharing must be reciprocal. You have to bring something to the table. Only then will you find resonance and derive benefit. This is only possible by offering a fresh vision and developing a different perspective. That is how you attract interest and reach your goals. I wrote this paragraph for my younger colleagues.

TKRCD is a highly prestigious society. I have followed its development throughout my professional career. It is a hardworking, productive, and energetic society — one that keeps gaining momentum. Its activities are dizzying in scope. It commands respect and recognition not only across the country but at the European level as well, which is a source of pride. My path crossed with this society through this task force. Now, together with my esteemed colleagues in the group, we are embarking on a new journey — one that will bring abdominal wall surgery closer to colorectal surgery.

The abdominal wall is an organ. It has functions. I would like to draw attention to it through two metaphors. The first relates to the foundational philosophy of Aikido — a Japanese martial art that I once practiced and have long admired. Aikido is primarily a defensive art. Through your defensive movements, you send your attacker the message: “You cannot harm me” — without injuring them. One of the core principles of Aikido philosophy is this: if the door opens outward, you push through it; if it opens toward you, you pull and pass through — but you never break the door in doing so. Through combinations of defensive movements, you neutralize your opponent’s kinetic energy: when they pull, you push; when they push, you pull. The second metaphor: if you think of the abdomen as a house, then the abdominal wall is its door. Your organs reside inside, and you enter to perform surgery on them. To do so, you must pass through the abdominal wall. The wall must be protected — the door must not be broken — otherwise you are left vulnerable. Therefore, the abdominal wall deserves respect. You may perform a magnificent R0 resection inside. The patient returns for their first-year follow-up with no recurrence — but with a massive incisional hernia. This is not acceptable. We must take the abdominal wall seriously. The formation of incisional hernias can be reduced; the necessary precautions must be known and applied. Their treatment, in turn, requires its own expertise.

In Europe, abdominal wall surgery has become a subspecialty. The Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS) — the official body of the European Union for specialist physicians — has incorporated abdominal wall surgery as a subspecialty, thanks to the efforts of the European Hernia Society (EHS). A certification program in this field is now underway. I was the first person in our country to obtain this certification, and younger surgical colleagues, whose interest is growing, have since begun obtaining it as well. Abdominal wall surgery centers are steadily increasing across Europe and the United States. The prevailing trend is to pursue abdominal wall surgery alongside another surgical subspecialty — for example, combining upper gastrointestinal surgery with abdominal wall surgery, or colorectal surgery with abdominal wall surgery. The repair of incisional and parastomal hernias in particular involves complex processes that require not only knowledge and experience, but also appropriate infrastructure.

This year, the EHS opened a board position responsible for “Quality, Accreditation, and the Hernia Registry.” It appears that a certification program for abdominal wall centers is set to be launched. Centers meeting defined criteria will receive EHS accreditation, which will be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure continuity. This program will not only promote standardization but also bring meaningful improvements in the quality of care delivered to patients.

Finally, I have been a member of the EHS since 2003 — the year the Turkish Hernia Society was founded. That journey led me to membership on the EHS Social Media Committee in 2017, and subsequently to a position on the EHS Board of Directors in 2020. During this term, I was involved in many EHS initiatives and helped shape the future of abdominal wall surgery. I established and managed the EHS social media accounts and developed them over time. I also created the hashtag #HerniaFriends, which has since become widely used among hernia surgeons. I am now adapting this to colorectal surgery — and I am proud to announce a new hashtag here: #ColorectalFriends

On this new journey within the TKRCD Abdominal Wall Task Force, we will work to bring colorectal surgery and abdominal wall surgery closer together, to raise our colleagues’ awareness, and to elevate national standards. Learning to pass through the door without breaking it may indeed be one of surgery’s most elegant lessons…