Peace and on Peace Education: Sharing the experiences Workshop
17 December 2005
Dedeman Istanbul Hotel
Nazire Dedeman
Founder President of Umut Foundation
Speech Text
I would like to welcome and thank you for being together with us as the Chairwoman of Umut Foundation. We all have the same dream and aim.
Our Foundation that derives its philosophy from Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as we like to express it, aims to execute the principle of rule of law. Umut Foundation carries out many projects and activities for this aim. It also supports preparation of books on human rights for primary and secondary schools. More than 2000 teachers and civil society volunteers were trained with the mentioned books to give education on human rights. Although it is not a huge step, this attempt should be considered as a humble start.
As it is known by all of us, human rights means human dignity; the bottom line of which is right to live. Umut Foundation is against all sorts of violence either individually or as an organization. Umut Foundation has been carried out a widespread campaign for controlling arms in Turkey and it acquired important progress in this field. Efforts are not limited with just raising awareness and stimulating sensitivity of public for above-mentioned matters, but also Umut Foundation drew attention of the decision makers to the point that existence of arms is an invitation to violence. The Foundation had an active role in legal changes for the matter.
We all know very well that peace is not just against the violence. Peace needs a cultural environment, where it is ensured, protected and the skills to build it can develop. Umut Foundation did not just prepare educational programs about peace; it also took part in the activities that support Peace in Middle East, Southeast Asia and in general Western world.
Our Foundation went a long way. At this moment, we are in a point to grasp the importance of the saying sometimes stop and observe what you have done. This saying summarizes the purpose of this conference that gives us the opportunity to come together for learning from each other and realise our mutual dreams.
I am sure that all participants have personal experiences and stories to facilitate us for understanding of the same purpose. All of these represent the different parts of the whole that we describe as Peace and being organized for its education. However, putting the pieces together does not necessarily compose a whole all the time. Wholeness as psychologists put it is not just summary of the pieces that compose it. We hope that we can reach a whole that is comprised of each others experiences at the end of this workshop.
Bruce Dayton and Esra Çuhadar Gürkaynak will help us to reach this renovated consciousness; they were responsible for the same duty in our previous workshops. I am impatient for this exciting experience and thank them once again for their contribution.
I would like to thank to others respectively: those from Winpeace who organized and cooperated with us for walking in the march project. I especially thank to Bettina Luise Rürup and Neşe Ozan Köker from Friedrich Ebert Foundation for their intense contributions to the project execution besides their financial support. I would also say that I am indebted to Neşe Ozan Köker for her sturdy commitment.
Lastly, I would once again stress my wish for more hopeful days.