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June 2007 • Issue 9
ISSN 1306-5297
What has STGM done in two years?STGM, which answered 247 questionsconcerning legal issues from 82organizations, gave printed materialand/ or communication specialistsupport to 19 campaigns in two years.
Stop the violance againstChildren! Campaign PreparationConference was held in AnkaraMs. Anita Schrader McMillan fromWarwick University and Mr. HakanGenç from Amnesty Internationalparticipated as speakers in AnkaraChildren’s Rights Cooperation PlatformConference, on 2nd and 3rd of June.
Fredom of thought activistŞanar Yurdatapan:“The freedom of expression is the keyto exercise other kinds of freedom”
Stay civilThe project “Strengthening Freedom of Association for Further Development of Civil Society”, which started on 15 June 2005 has continued
for two years with the support we received from European Union. We wanted to have a more ‘civil’ attitude towards life. We wished to erode the
centuries old rigid attitude which is known by heart.
We wanted to interfere with the course of the situation in which not even the civil society can be civil; a sketch like situation in which no one can
stand the ‘different’. We advocated that civil society was in need of a new language as well as a new perspective. What EU called a ‘dialogue’,
we called it ‘chat’ and we reminded that other than the issues EU would present us, we have values that we might add to the EU. We worked so
as to help the small organizations build their capacities and break the vicious circle they were trapped in.
We insisted that being civil is another virtue just like tolerance, saving, coming together, being together, getting
organized, revolting against injustice, and establishing empathy with the others. We advocated
that standing side by side with our differences without trying to change or correct
the others and without trying to make them more like ourselves, is a great
skill especially at a time when we are imposed to act in the opposite
way, at a time when we are becoming uniform,
identical. Wasn’t it a good idea?
We hope to see you in our new projects;
stay civil...
“Only STGM is responsible for the content of this publication which does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.”
Bulletin of the Strengthening Freedom of Association for Further Development of Civil Society Project implemented by STGM and supported by the European Commission.Published every two months.
Local administrations and NGOs were in Mardin
The third meeting of Local Administration and NGO Cooperation in
Participatory Democracy, which aims at local governments’ forming
structures for participatory democracy in collaboration with the NGOs
in their regions, was held in Mardin between 25 and 27 April 2007. The
representatives of Mardin Kızıltepe Municipality, Eskişehir Odunpazarı
Municipality, Nevşehir Kaymaklı Municipality and İzmir Seyrek
Municipality as well as the representatives of the NGOs in those towns
attended the meeting.
On the first day of the meeting, in the morning session, Prof. Dr. Korel
Göymen explicated the importance of NGOs for local governments and the
ways NGOs can join decision making procedures. Afterwards, each participant
municipality and NGOs gave a presentation on what they had done since
the second meeting.
On the second day, Gender Based Approach and Civil Movement (Yıldız
Tokman / KA-DER) and Ecosystem Based Approach (Sunay Demircan)
were explained and discussed. After the presentations, a mapping work
was conducted together with the participant municipality and NGOs.
Strengthening Civil Society in thePre-accession Process: NGO Grant FacilityProgram held Pre-Grant meetings
Within the framework of 2005 EU Pre-Accession Financial Assistance
Program for Turkey, the grants which were announced by the Central
Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) on behalf of the Turkish Government
on 30 May 2007:
> Promotion and Protection of Women Rights
> Enhancement of Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities
> Protection of Consumers
> Strengthening the Protection of Children’s Rights (with an emphasis
to hinder forced child labour)
Components of the “Strengthening Civil Society in the Pre-accesion Process:
NGO Grant Facility Program” have been presented in pre-grant meetings in 17
cities in the months of April and May. 524 representatives from various NGOs
have participated in the meetings which were held in Ankara, İstanbul, Edirne,
Bursa, Çanakkale, İzmir, Diyarbakır, Trabzon, Erzurum, Kars, Sinop, Samsun,
Kastamonu, Amasya, Adana, Eskişehir and Mardin. NGO representatives
were informed about issues such as the content of grants, the points they
should pay attention to when preparing projects and practical tips.
Third Meeting of STGM Advisory Boardwas heldCivil Society Development Center (STGM) has evaluated its work, which
has been continuing for two years, together with the NGOs that it supports,
in its third Advisory Board meeting.
Strengthening Freedom of Association for Further Development of Civil
Society Project, held by Civil Society Development center since June
2005, will end on 15 June 2005. STGM, which will continue its work
with another project, has come together with its target NGOs in its third
advisory meeting, before the project ends.
In the meeting, the subgroups that were held under the titles of capacity
building, civil networks, local governments- participatory democracy,
grants, campaign- communication discussed and assessed the work that
has been done so far within the scope of the project. The suggestions of
the NGOs about the next project period were collected during the meeting
and a debate about civil society was held.
Besides, the representatives of the Lifeworld Foundation (Yaşama Dair
Vakıf) presented the outcomes of the STGM Monitoring Report, which
they prepared by following STGM’s work for two years. Ms. Şeniz Ciritçi,
representative of Microsoft Corporation, which is the sponsor of STGM's
Communication Technologies Trainings, mentioned the support provided
to NGOs by the company in her speech.
Turkish Environment Platform (TÜRÇEP) held its fourth meeting on
5 - 6 May in Istanbul. Global Warming and Climate Change Meeting
was planned as the first thing at the meeting. The political aspect of the
environment movement in Turkey, the establishment of the clean energy
Platform, the relations between the environment movement and other
civil movements, river pollution and common activities, the work against
nuclear power plants, the mining law and stone quarries were among the
topics discussed for two days.
Turkish Environment Platformcame together in Istanbul
What have we done in two years?
Strengthening Freedom of Association for Further Development of Civil
Society Project, run by STGM for two years, came to an end on 15 Haziran
2007. What has STGM done in those two years? We wrote a lot of reports
to answer that question and shared our activities with you through our website
and Siviliz. We also wanted to reflect what we have done in numbers.
The number of visitors of the STGM website per month has increased more
than six times since the day it was launched. (September 2005-2.925 visitors,
May 2007-17.976 vistors) We had planned to support ten campaigns at the
beginning but upon great demand we provided support for 19 projects in
total and we had to reject a lot of support requests. Among the campaigns
we supported, 8 campaigns were on discrimination, whereas 11 were about
the sustainable use of natural resources. We have provided detailed answers
to 247 questions from 82 organizations through NGO Legal Advisory Line
and all the questions and answers are available at our website without the
name of the related organization. STGM library has 587 books, 82 booklets
and 269 magazines. 7.447 organizations are registered in the NGO Database.
The number of the questions anwered through help link is 136.
20 meetings of five civil networks have been supported. Three meetings with five
municipalities and local NGOs have been held through Local Administration -
NGO Cooperation in Participatory Democracy work. About 650 thousand Euros
were given to local projects conducted by NGOs through two grants projects.
You can find detailed information about our trainings in the Trainings part
of our bulletin. In 2007-2009 period, we will continue to support local NGOs.
Women Coalition meetings werein Çanakkale and AdanaWomen Coalition meeting, which was supported by STGM in the framework
of establishing networks, was held in Çanakkale on 2 - 3 May. The meeting
was held in order to spread the organization throughout the country and to
establish one of the local branches. The meeting hosted representatives from
Ankara, Balıkesir, Bursa, Küçükkuyu and Çanakkale women’s organizations
and resulted in the establishment of Çanakkale Women’s Coalition.
The fourth Women’s Coalition Meeting was held in Adana. In the meeting,
where participants from Adana constituted the majority, there were also
representatives from Ankara and Mersin. At the end of the one and a half
days work, Adana Women’s Coalition was established.
Ankara Child Rights Platformhad a grand meeting
Ankara Child Rights Platform held a Conference in preparation for
Stop Violance against Children Campaign with the support of STGM
on 2- 3 June in Ankara. At the conference, research about violence
against children and global report, and general information about the
global campaigns against physical punishment and violence against
women were presented. Positive and negative examples from the countries
where campaigns about the topic were launched as well as the lessons
drawn from those cases were shared with the related stakeholders in
Turkey. Workshops were held for the purpose of building the capacity
of Ankara Child Rights Platform to fight against all kinds of violence,
to complete the structuring of the campaign to be launched. At the
conference , where Dr. Anita Schrader McMillan from Warwick University
and Mr. Hakan Genç, campaign coordinator at Amnesty International
were presenters, there were 60 participants who were representatives of
the NGOs working in the fields of children’s and human rights, related
professional organizations, public authority representatives, academicians,
specialists of the field, students and media employees.
Towards effective environment protectionin Datça PeninsulaThe project run under joint participation of Datça Environment and Tourism
Association (DAÇEV) and Nature Association, aims at improving DAÇEV’s
technical and managerial capacities in the field of nature protection.
Trainings and workshops about project design, management, monitoring
and assessment were held within the scope of the project, with the
participation of DAÇEV’s active members and volunteers. As an outcome
of those trainings, the participants have started tackling with the problems
of the Datça peninsula systematically. They have formed subgroups and
are pursuing comprehensive work on Datça as an important natural region
and the species that it provides shelter.
Project activities will continue until the end of July.
For further information: [email protected]
The Project to Support and Strengthenthe NGOs in the city of Van“The Project to Support and Strengthen the NGOs in the City of Van”, which
is run by Çatak Development, Education and Culture Association,
aims at building the organizatioanal and institutional capacities of NGOs
in Van. Throughout the project, more than 100 representatives and
administrators from 35 NGOs working with disadvantaged groups such
as women, people with disabilities, young people or children have benefited
from the trainings.
Other than the trainings, conferences and panels that were open to public
participation were organized. Within the scope of the project, a lot of
academicians who hold trainings about civil society and civil society
activists were approached. Activities and collaboration with organizations
that function nationwide such as TÜSEV, TESEV, Arı Movement, ICR
were organized. Owing to the poject process, the NGOs in Van got to
know each other better and started coming together more often. Another
important outcome was that the local NGOs learned more about the
associations operating nationwide.
The project will continue until the end of July.
For further information: [email protected]
“Raising the Perception of Violence in Local Scale and Promoting Legal
Rights Project” run by Yenimahalle Education, Development and
Cooporation Association to raise the sensitivity of women about domestic
violence and to meet the need for a women’s councelling center proceeds
with full force in Şentepe, Yenimahalle and Çayyolu districts.
The target of the project is to make women councelling service practice
common in small local units and contribute to the elimination of
discrimination and violence against women. The association, which holds
meetings for 450 women to convey detailed information about the
perception of legal rights, has had more than 40 home gatherings so far.
Besides, within the association, social service specialists provide women
with information and councelling about the issues they need on certain
days of the week.
Women learn their rights!The project is planned to have been finished by July.
The details about the project are available via request: [email protected]
The projects about which you read in the “Project News” page are supported by EU under the program of “Strengthening the Civil Society: Supporting the Civil Networks, CapacityBuilding Projects, and Participating Local Projects”.
Youth Association Memberscame to Ankara
We held a three days training with Youth Federation between 4 - 6 May
in Ankara. On the first day youth policies and rights based approaches,
on the second day strategical management techniques and on the last
day communication was the focus of the training. 31 Youth Association
members came together and had a chance to learn about each other
through the meeting.
The last project cycle management training in Ankara was held between
25 - 27 May. The training, which hosted 27 participants from Sivas,
Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Batman, Muş, Mardin, Bitlis, Adana, Çaycuma,
Konya, İstanbul and Ankara, basically focused on the principles of
the logical framework approach, problem analysis, constituent analysis,
target analysis, strategy analysis, forming an activity plan, and preparing
project budget.
PCM Training in Ankara
Our trainings have come to the end
We concluded the 2005 - 2007 training period with the 1 - 3 June project
cycle management training in Istanbul. Our trainer Mr. Faruk Cengiz
Tekindağ and 25 representatives from İstanbul, Adapazarı, Kocaeli,
Sakarya, Batman, Kırklareli, Biga and Ankara enjoyed the last session.
From 2005 to 2007, we conducted 33 capacity building, 42 project cycle
management, 3 local specialist and 8 computer trainings, which add up
to the total number of 85 trainings. Thus, we have reached 1959 non-
governmental organization representatives from 76 cities (Çanakkale,
Edirne, Balıkesir, İzmir, Manisa, Muğla, Aydın, Denizli, Uşak, Afyon,
Aksaray, Bursa, Kütahya, İstanbul, Yalova, Tekirdağ, Kırklareli, Kocaeli,
Sakarya, Bolu, Düzce, Ankara, Kırıkkale, Kırşehir, Çankırı, Konya,
Eskişehir, Antalya, Burdur, Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye, Hatay, Burdur,
Kayseri, Niğde, Nevşehir, Sivas, Bartın, Zonguldak, Yozgat, Samsun,
Sinop, Çorum, Amasya, Tokat, Ordu, Trabzon, Giresun, Gümüşhane,
Rize, Artvin, Kilis, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa,
Diyarbakır, Mardin, Batman, Ardahan, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bitlis, Erzurum,
Tunceli, Kars, Iğdır, Muş, Malatya, Bingöl, Elazığ, Van, Siirt, Şırnak
and Hakkâri).
Our trainings, which will end in June, will start over in September with
a brand new program.
Şanar Yurdatapan (Initiative for Freedom of Expression)
Civil disobedience is described as a political and conscientious but not legal act which is conducted publicly withoutresorting to violence and it aims at the change of laws or government policies. Just like the acts of black people in severalstates of the USA who sit to seats reserved for white people in the buses, went to the churches of the whites to pray ingroups although they are not allowed and Gandhi’s Salt Walk; in Turkey, the acts of Bergama villagers who resistedthe search of gold with cyanide in their villages, the meetings of Saturday Mothers in Galatasaray each week for theirmissing children or the conscientious objectors’ rejecting doing military service all constitute examples of civil disobedience.
One of the most prominent figures in the field of civil disobedience in Turkey is Şanar Yurdatapan. Other than being amusician, he is also well known for his activism in human rights. Yurdatapan, who received an order from the militaryjunta to return to the country when he was in Cyprus in 1981 for joining the Turkish and Greek Cyprus Films FriendshipFestival, was expelled from citizenship when he did not abide by the order. In his exile of 12 years, he traveled aroundthe world giving concerts and joining meetings.
Yurdatapan, who came back when the cabinet changed after the 1991 elections, received reaction when shaved hishead and held a press meeting to make a torture case he witnessed public. He became the spokesperson of “Initiativeagainst Crime of Thought” civil disobedience act which started after the trial of Yaşar Kemal in State Security Courtin January 1995. In 1996 he was arrested several times for his work in “Come Together for Peace Initiative” as thespokes person. In 2000, when he was sentenced to two months in prison for ‘crime of thought’, he voluntarily spent
two months in one of the highly debated isolation cells in the special type prison of Kartal. Until 2006; the movementfor the freedom of thought has published 7 books and about 50 booklets, nearly all of which included texts consideredcrime. The investigation of the “Freedom for Thought 1995 – 2005” booklet, which violates each one of the 22 articlesin the new Turkish Penal Code, is still in progress, and the booklet which violates the new law against terror is beingprepared. The number of the active participants of the movement has exceeded 80 thousand.
Yurdatapan took the “Golden Orange” award with the music he composed for Yılmaz Güney’s film, ‘Arkadaş’ in1975. On the other hand, because of the oppression in TRT he rejected the award he was nominated when the songwhose lyrics he had written, “Aman petrol”, was chosen the best in the TRT Eurovision Song Contest in 1980.
Şanar Yurdatapan, who received “Freedom of Expression Awards” from İHD (Human Rights Association),MAZLUM-DER and ÇGD (Contemporary Journalists Association) on various dates for his work on the freedomof expression, also holds Human Rights Watch 2001 Hellman-Hammett Award and 2002 “Best Circumventionof Censorship” Award offered by “INDEX on Censorship”. Again in the year 2002, he was given the “Global RightsDefender” award of Human Rights Watch and became one of the three ‘monitors’ of Human Rights Watch in theworld for a year.
Yurdatapan also has three books which he wrote with Abdurrahman Dilipak: “Red and Green / Green ad Red” (2002),“Red- Green Memories” (2003), “Red- Green Common Denominator” (2004).
Why do you especially fight forthe freedom of expression in thefield of human rights?
Because the freedom of expressionis the key to exercise other kindsof freedom. If you lose that keyonce, all other kinds of freedomwill be locked. To achieve otherkinds of freedom, to protect whathas been achieved, freedom ofexpression is necessary. When anemployee does not get paid howis he or she going to seek for his
or her right? By telling about the problem and trying to get heard. But he or shefaces the police for conducting demonstration without permission. People who thinkthey have been treated partially first finds themselves in front of the solicitor thanthe judge for interfering with or insulting the judicial system. The people who aretrying to take the homicides committed by the armed forces are again faced with thelaw articles that hinder freedom of expression so that they do not speak and tell thetruth but keep silent.
Why do you conduct civil disobedience acts for the violation of freedom ofexpression?
In Turkey so many things have been said, written, and drawn about freedom ofexpression. Books have been written, panel discussion have been held, petitionscollected and presented to the Parliament. However, the government does not seemto listen to those acts; they just don’t care. We wanted to do something different,something compulsive that would put them in a dilemma. They would either correctthe laws or face the scandal. That is the reason why we chose civil disobedience. In1995, when Yaşar Kemal was standing his trial for an article, we collected the speechof his and some other intellectuals’ which were considered crime and published itwith the signatures of 1080 publishers. The prosecutor had to appeal to the courtand so he did. 185 well known intellectual, artist, author, journalist, trade unionist,publisher, and academician... Such a court case had never been seen. Of course, theycould not dare to put so many famous people into the jail.
Although you are a leftist why do you also establish alliances with people fromthe right wing? What kind of reactions do you receive for this?
Everybody applauds what Voltaire said 250 years ago: “I do not agree with youropinions, but I am willing to fight on your side for your freedom to express them”.However, when you try to put it into practice you experience such kind of problems.
But this is the bottom line of freedom of expression. It is easy and natural to advocatethe expression of opinions you like. Yet, it becomes obvious that we are advocatingfreedom of expression only when we advocate the expression of ideas we are not fondof. This is basically what we did with Abdurrahman Dilipak. It is not that I intend togo to Cuma pray with him; neither does he intend to come to Çiçek Arcade with me.Just like the support visit we paid to Hrant or the time when Turkey was forced to enterthe war on Iraq. We went to the Turkish Parliament and stood there side by side asthe MPs went to decide weather Turkey should send soldiers to Iraq or not.
We came to know you with your artist identity but now you are better known foryour activism. What kind of a link is there between activism and art?
By activism you mean ‘advocatinghuman rights’. In the years I wasmaking music they were not twoseparate things for me, either. Thesongs I composed were alwaystelling something about life andthey all aimed at changing theworld. 12 September fascismdivided my life too. I had to spend12 years abroad. Everything had
changed when I came back. The music “market” repelled me, so did I. Now thereis an effort I have started and I feel like I should not leave it until it is able to pursuewithout me, it is just like my baby. Still, I would like to institutionalize the “Initiativeagainst Crime of Thought”, which we have been working on for 13 years, and goback to my first love, music, in the rest of my life.
Because of your fight to establish freedom of expression in Turkey you have paida lot of prices varying form being expelled from citizenship to being exiled, beingsued regularly and being imprisoned. Having paid so many prices what happenedto your expectations from future?
I have never lost hope. Of course there might be days when everything looks gloomybut as the poet calls it:“Do not ignore the sun; however black it may seemIts fade is not eternal; each night is followed by the day.”
Initiative for Freedom of ExpressionUncular Sok. 36/2 Üsküdar İstanbulTel: +90 (216) 492 05 04 / +90 (216) 532 75 45Fax: +90 (216) 492 18 40e-mail: [email protected]: www.antenna-tr.org
89. Sok. 14/9
06550 Yıldız Çankaya ANKARA, TURKEY
Phone: +90 312 442 42 62 (pbx)
Fax: +90 312 442 57 55
e-mail: [email protected]
www.stgm.org.tr
Owned by on Behalf of Civil Society Development Centre Association: Levent KorkutResponsible Editor in-Chief: Gamze GökerGraphic Design: M. Cem Kocataş, Banu ÇetintaşIllustrations: Ferit AvcıISSN: 1306-5297
STGMD Executive BoardChair: Levent KorkutDeputy Chair: Serpil SancarSecretary General: Orhan Kemal CengizAccountant: Feray SalmanMembers: Şeyhmus Diken, Uygar Özesmi, Öyküm Bağcı
