Globalization still ideal, claims group president
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Niki Gamm
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 23, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The board president of the Marmara Group For Strategic and Social Research Foundation says it would not be realistic to oppose the globalization process by trying to keep Turkey outside of global trends. With this in mind, our relationships with Eurasian countries are sufficient
The 12th Eurasian Economic Summit, which will be held in Istanbul from May 6 to 8, will bring together political leaders, experts, journalists and observers to cover issues ranging from the economic crises to the rise of China as a world superpower. Along with a focus on energy and new prospects in the Black Sea region, this year’s summit will run a special forum on the Kyrgyz Republic.
The Marmara Group for Strategic and Social Research Foundation has been involved in the success of the summit since its inception. When the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review asked the Board president of the foundation, Dr. Akkan Suver, about the success of the Eurasian Economic Summits, he said: "The success of the Eurasian Economic Summits is a result of its continuation for 12 years without a break."
Wide acceptance
"Today the Marmara Foundation is a well-known and respected organization in the Balkans, Central Asia and the Caucasus and it has received wide acceptance from presidents, ministers and dignitaries of the countries of the region. This is the core meaning of this success. The foundation is well-organized in communications; anyone who has attended the summit once wants to come again. We, as the Marmara Foundation, are respected by all Turkish national bodies. And as a result of this respect, our government gives moral and financial support to us."
As for the Marmara Foundation’s international relations, Suver pointed out that the organization was represented as a nongovernmental organization by Gülden Doğan and Engin Ansay, the Turkish ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council in New York. The foundation is an observer member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE. "Müjgan Suver, Lale Aytanç Nalbant, Leyla Tavşanoğlu and Nezihe Timur are in charge of OSCE activities. Samil Ayrım is our representative at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. And I represent the Marmara Foundation in the Balkan Political Club and the International Fund for cooperation and partnership of the Black Sea Ğ Caspian Sea. Engin Köklüçınar, Ogan Soysal, Cengiz Güldamlası and I represent the foundation in the World Azerbaijani Congress and the World Mongolian Forum. We have consultative status in the UNESCO Intercultural Dialogue Secretariat. We will also cooperate with the world-renowned Vienna Economic Forum with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations during the 12th Eurasian Economic Summit."
Questions ranging from where Eurasian geographically begins and where it ends, and what foundation’s approach is to the EU concept, to what is the current place of Eurasia in today’s global world, elicited interesting answers from Suver.
"It would not be a realistic approach to oppose the globalization process by keeping Turkey outside of this process in the age of globalization. In contemplation of that, our relations with Eurasian countries are sufficient. The most important point is to be included in this process without damaging national interests. On the other hand, there is no country that is affected by all the dimensions of globalization. Globalization is still an ideal. It would be incorrect to believe that it is harmful or it is finished in the light of its imperfections and failure in some countries because of their wrong implementation.
"We have to establish a new global conception, which will carry today’s communities that developed in a nation-state environment with domestic values, to global dimensions, and be able to deal with problems locally in a global manner. We have to make sense of excelling the high standards of modern civilizations as a national objective and educate our people in the light of either universal values and formations or national and moral values without compromising their national identity. We have to implement a national course of action in a global conception for our relations with Eurasian countries, the EU and Islamic countries, for our responsibilities as a member of NATO, and for our relations as a partner of the U.S. Then we have to encourage our partners to consider this course of action in the light of their criteria and value judgment."
When asked why there was a need for synergy among Eurasian countries, Suver said: "Globalization makes us tend to common values. It is an absolute fact that, in the case that there is no globalization, we will be faced with alienation and isolation in our spiritual life, as well as its economic effects. Some great changes in our social and moral life, as well as economic structure will appear as a result of the change which is brought by the globalization. This is the spirit of the Eurasian synergy."
The Marmara Group for Strategic and Social Research Foundation has been involved in the success of the summit since its inception. When the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review asked the Board president of the foundation, Dr. Akkan Suver, about the success of the Eurasian Economic Summits, he said: "The success of the Eurasian Economic Summits is a result of its continuation for 12 years without a break."
Wide acceptance
"Today the Marmara Foundation is a well-known and respected organization in the Balkans, Central Asia and the Caucasus and it has received wide acceptance from presidents, ministers and dignitaries of the countries of the region. This is the core meaning of this success. The foundation is well-organized in communications; anyone who has attended the summit once wants to come again. We, as the Marmara Foundation, are respected by all Turkish national bodies. And as a result of this respect, our government gives moral and financial support to us."
As for the Marmara Foundation’s international relations, Suver pointed out that the organization was represented as a nongovernmental organization by Gülden Doğan and Engin Ansay, the Turkish ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council in New York. The foundation is an observer member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE. "Müjgan Suver, Lale Aytanç Nalbant, Leyla Tavşanoğlu and Nezihe Timur are in charge of OSCE activities. Samil Ayrım is our representative at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. And I represent the Marmara Foundation in the Balkan Political Club and the International Fund for cooperation and partnership of the Black Sea Ğ Caspian Sea. Engin Köklüçınar, Ogan Soysal, Cengiz Güldamlası and I represent the foundation in the World Azerbaijani Congress and the World Mongolian Forum. We have consultative status in the UNESCO Intercultural Dialogue Secretariat. We will also cooperate with the world-renowned Vienna Economic Forum with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations during the 12th Eurasian Economic Summit."
Questions ranging from where Eurasian geographically begins and where it ends, and what foundation’s approach is to the EU concept, to what is the current place of Eurasia in today’s global world, elicited interesting answers from Suver.
"It would not be a realistic approach to oppose the globalization process by keeping Turkey outside of this process in the age of globalization. In contemplation of that, our relations with Eurasian countries are sufficient. The most important point is to be included in this process without damaging national interests. On the other hand, there is no country that is affected by all the dimensions of globalization. Globalization is still an ideal. It would be incorrect to believe that it is harmful or it is finished in the light of its imperfections and failure in some countries because of their wrong implementation.
"We have to establish a new global conception, which will carry today’s communities that developed in a nation-state environment with domestic values, to global dimensions, and be able to deal with problems locally in a global manner. We have to make sense of excelling the high standards of modern civilizations as a national objective and educate our people in the light of either universal values and formations or national and moral values without compromising their national identity. We have to implement a national course of action in a global conception for our relations with Eurasian countries, the EU and Islamic countries, for our responsibilities as a member of NATO, and for our relations as a partner of the U.S. Then we have to encourage our partners to consider this course of action in the light of their criteria and value judgment."
When asked why there was a need for synergy among Eurasian countries, Suver said: "Globalization makes us tend to common values. It is an absolute fact that, in the case that there is no globalization, we will be faced with alienation and isolation in our spiritual life, as well as its economic effects. Some great changes in our social and moral life, as well as economic structure will appear as a result of the change which is brought by the globalization. This is the spirit of the Eurasian synergy."