Umut Foundation 10th Year Cocktail and Exhibition

December 15th, Wednesday
Lutfi Kirdar International Congress and Exhibition Centre

Nazire Dedeman
Founder President of Umut Foundation
Speech Text


 

Dear friends,
I would like to thank you for joining us in celebrating the 10th anniversary of Umut Foundation. Welcome All.
Ten years ago today, we founded Umut Foundation. Our purpose was to raise the youth, our assurance for the future, as democratic individuals, with the consciousness of citizenship, who embrace the primacy of the law, are sensitive to the environment and humanity, and favour peaceful means in conflict resolution.
If we want to define our vision with one concept, it is the recognition of the primacy of the law. We would like to establish the primacy of law on domestic and international levels. We have taken the declaration of human rights as our guide in our walk along this path. Human rights are universal and cover all the individuals in all cultures. The existence of the culture of peace and consensus and elimination of violence on all levels lie at the roots of human rights. 
In this sense, our objective was to teach and implement peaceful means in conflict resolution and show that violence is not the solution. We believe that the culture of peace and peaceful means should be cultivated and the conflicts should be resolved by means of the law.
The primacy of law is not only an issue for the jurists. It is to be internalized by the citizens. Every individual in our society should be a “citizen” who is aware of their rights, knows and exercises their duties and responsibilities. A “citizen” should also be sensitive to the problems of the society. We have done a lot of work to cultivate the consciousness of citizenship in the course of last ten years. 
One of the purposes of Umut Foundation is to teach methods of reconciliation toward conflict resolution and create a context which helps to establish and sustain peace. Therefore, we have shared with society our studies on reconciliation methods for resolution of conflicts in a peaceful manner. 
The youth is the guarantee of the future of our society. Our hope is to help bringing up leaders who are capable of guiding the humanity to better and safer conditions in which people will live in peace and dignity. Under the roof of Umut Foundation in the past ten years, we have worked on the subject of youth and leadership in accordance with our awareness of the responsibility to raise young people who believe in the primacy of the law and are capable of passing that belief to next generations. Through these endeavours, we hope that we can share our reconciliatory vision with the generations to come. 
We have always carried out the responsibility to oppose violence and inform each and every individual of our society about reconciliatory means for we both defend and desire a culture of peace and human rights. For this reason, in eradicating violence from society, increasing citizens’ sensitivity to the devastating effects of violence in society, we focus on individual disarming. Our focus is on “individual disarming” for we believe that individual violence is the last ring in the chain of violence. Violence starts with the individual, continues in the family, consolidates itself in the school, and spreads through society in general. The individual must be convinced that the mere function of a weapon is to kill and a weapon is neither a symbol for authority or respectability and neither is it a means to gain recognition. In the final analysis, a weapon which symbolizes the capability to inflict fatal blows on others is also a symbol of brute force and violence. It is obvious to us that human dignity cannot be sustained by brute force but by committing to lawful state authority and development and protection of the law. To inform the general public and to attract public attention to this issue, in the course of these ten years, we organized various activities and contests on individual disarming, did scientific studies, published books and produced visual material. The support of the media in communicating our activities to society was very strong and invaluable. I would like to again thank those who represent the media here. It is obvious that neither education nor legislation is sufficient in itself to pass the much desired peaceful society to the generations to come. The meaning of the primacy of the law is synonymous with human rights and democracy. The existence of democratic structures becomes functional through organization. Democracy is a form of organization. While we were working to achieve our goals, we realized that one of the main elements of the organization of a democratic society is the empowerment and strengthening of non-governmental organizations. To make non-governmental organizations more active, we worked to improve their operational methods, and strengthen their communication and cooperation among themselves. In a nutshell, we have endeavoured to create a working environment respectful to human beings.
Respect for human beings also means respect for natural environment. One of the issues Umut Foundation focuses on is environment. In this context, Umut Forests and other afforestation activities were conducted to emphasize the need to create an environment that supports and sustains life. We are the ones who have killed the natural environment and it should be our responsibility to rejuvenate it. 
We have organized our various activities to improve the procedures based on the primacy of the law, to increase the acceptability and desirability of peaceful reconciliation strategies and tactics, to consolidate the belief in human rights and a culture of peace, to expose inhumane nature of violence, and finally to share our findings and experience with society. Moreover, we have published various works to consolidate our purposes on solid grounds. “To Become a Citizen…”, the handbooks for students and teachers published by Umut Foundation Publications as a gift to our society, was prepared by a group of highly valuable educators in a very long and hard working period. Our books aim at “raising the young generation as individuals who accept the primacy of the law, and are in favor of peace rather than violence”. As opposed to conventional didactic methods, our books were prepared from an alternative didactic perspective which teaches and encourages “Open discussions, creativity, interactivity, developing and defending unique opinions, and participation”. We have published different versions of our books for students and teachers and both versions are confirmed by the Ministry of Education to be used as supplementary texts for seventh and eighth grades. 
One of the biggest steps we have taken since our foundation ten years ago is our webpage which is a result of our endeavours to adjust our activities to ever developing technology. Through our webpage we regularly share our information, opinions, and our work with the general public. “Umut.org.tr” is updated every week. Our webpage has become an important source the contents of which include all the activities of the Foundation, scientific and scholarly studies, news about violent crimes in the civilian population, legal and sociological concepts, statistical data, research projects and articles by specialists and scientists.

In ten years, Umut Foundation

- travelled 126,000 km,
- held 46 meetings,
- organized 10 contests
- organized four protest marches for the Silent Shoes,
- organized three campaign,
- published eight books,
- attracted approximately 28, 000 people to its activities,
- attracted 83,270 visitors to its website,
- organized 60 educational sessions,
- educated almost 2000 people,
- donated 20, 000 books,
- planted 22,800 trees in the Umut Forests,
- received 17 plaques and awards,
- produced approximately one and a half trillion TL worth of surplus value,
- organized 113 activities in eleven cities in Turkey, and in seven countries abroad.
- explained its mission in the media 1,250 times.
The Umut Foundation always shares its activities, the relevant information and data as well as their analysis and interpretation with the public. In short, the Foundation has taken big steps in raising consciousness in society by training and informing the public. 
Yes! Umut Foundation is one of those rare non-governmental organizations which has an advisory status in the U.N. and thanks to its status there, it is also a well-known and respectable organization in the EU.
I hope that this success will spread to other areas.
I would like to say that the efforts of Umut Foundation will grow even stronger with your valuable support and contribution. I would like to thank you for being with us today to offer your support for the survival of Umut Foundation.

For hopeful tomorrows...