Turkish scientist: "Our main goal is to gather precious people together through our Foundation, Center for Strategic Studies, and our magazine"

"Foundations and NGOs are the dynamos of Turkish democracy"

Turan: How would you characterize the place and role of civil society organizations, which are one of the indispensable components of democracy, in today's Turkey?

Ekinci: Civil society organizations have preserved their existence in one way or another in every period of our history. While protecting the system in society, the state has supported the NGOs that put forth valuable ideas in various fields and are trying to implement them in order to reduce the burden on the shoulders of the state and used their suggestions in the creation of today's governance system. In this context, the role of foundations, associations, and research centers has always been great. In particular, the foundations established during the Great Seljuk and Ottoman periods formed the origin of many of today's NGOs. Since the beginning of history, foundations have always helped the needy sections of society and made their valuable contribution to the state governance process. Foundations, which feel debted to support the nation, are still supported by the state today. Many foundations or non-government organizations use this support to easily fulfill their duties in the field of ideas and concrete services to society.

Turan: With the conferences they organize and the magazines and books they publish, how much influence can NGOs have in the intellectual life of Turkey?

Ekinci: Almost all NGOs in Turkey are specialized in specific issues. For example, aid organizations, organizations dealing with politics, organizations supporting education or dealing with environmental problems, etc. There are many NGOs that support the implementation of state projects in these matters. An organization created for the purpose of social assistance cannot organize political conferences and publish magazines and books. The charter of each organization also defines the framework of its activity. The Turkic World Research Foundation publishes magazines called "Turkic World History" and "Turkic World Studies", while the Turkish Literature Foundation or the Turkish Language Association publishes magazines on literature according to its profile. The Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies established by the Eurasian One Foundation in 1994 prioritizes political-economic-international relations, and the Foundation for Political, Economic, and Social Research, which was established about 10 years ago, follows the same path. In such a case, the life of opinion and thought of Turkey is enriched from many points of view. Because sometimes organizing conferences or preparing analytical reports that the authorities do not like serves to deepen democracy in Turkey. Otherwise, NGOs will not remain important, and democracy will not be able to deepen.

Turan: One of the most powerful NGOs in Turkey is the Eurasian One Foundation, and the other is the Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies, in which you are actively involved and publish a magazine. How quickly can the Eurasian One Foundation and the Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies give their proposals to the authorities in solving the country's problems, and how promptly do authorities respond to these proposals?

Ekinci: The European-Asian Union Turkish Economic, Social, and Cultural Research Foundation (Eurasia One Foundation) was established in Istanbul in 1993 under the leadership of dear Şaban Gülbahar in order to support the material and moral development of society in every way by using Turkey's geopolitical position.

The Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies, established under the Eurasian One Foundation, has made great contributions to the development of the freedom of opinion and thought in Turkey by determining the agenda and influencing the agenda for 30 years, and will continue to carry out these works without hesitation. We are closely interested in the processes taking place not only in Turkey but also in the surrounding countries and in many corners of the world.

Our research is always distinguished by its depth and objectivity. Since 1994, we have published magazines and books and held conferences at certain intervals. For example, we still publish the “Strategic Analysis” magazine, the first issue of which was published in May 2000.

 In May 2001, the Institute of Armenian Studies affiliated with the Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies was established. The Institute has been publishing “Armenian Studies” magazine since May 2001 and publishes “Review of Armenian Studies” magazine every three months in English. We are the organization that publishes the only magazine in English against the “genocide” slanders against our country.

Today, the main task of both the Eurasian One Foundation and the Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies is to present our proposals to the state's authorities and create alternatives in looking at issues. We believe that state governance will be stronger in this way.

Turan: The issue of Azerbaijan has been on the agenda of the Eurasian One Foundation and the Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies since the first day. Can you tell us about your future plans for Azerbaijan and Eurasian geography?

Ekinci: When Eurasian One Foundation and Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies were founded, the issue of Azerbaijan as a brother country was always at the top of our agenda, and it is still at the top of our agenda today. Brother Azerbaijan, saving its land from Armenian occupation and ensuring its territorial integrity, has become a matter of vital importance for us.

On September 27, 2020, when Azerbaijan began to liberate its lands from occupation with the unlimited support of Turkey, the head of our Foundation, Şaban Gülbahar, supported Azerbaijan's operations every week in his TV program and demanded the opening of the Zangazur corridor, which will connect Turkey and the Turkic world, as soon as news of the victory came.

As soon as the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahçeli, proposed to Baku to open a primary school in Shusha, dear Şaban Gülbahar announced in his program on TV that the books of the school in Shusha will be provided by the Eurasian One Foundation. Furthermore, the head of our Foundation announced that the Foundation would undertake the construction of the memorial complex of Azerbaijani Turks, who were martyred by Armenians in Khojaly on February 26, 1992, after the complete liberation of Khojaly.

After the victory, Şaban Gülbahar insisted on inviting the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, to Baku. Although this proposal was not realized at that time, the meeting of the dear President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, with dear Ersin Tatar in Konya a few days ago was another confirmation of the visionary policy of our Foundation and our chairman. Azerbaijan is the center of the Turkic world for us, what more can I say?

Turan: What would you like to say about the activities of the “Eurasian File” magazine, of which you are the editor?

Ekinci: Our magazine “Eurasian File” is in book format and is printed every 6 months both in the printing house and uploaded to the Internet. Articles are accepted through Dergipark and sent to reviewers, after reading the articles, if they give a positive opinion, we publish them in the magazine. There is no subject limit for articles. But for all subjects, `strategy' is the main condition. Writings on all topics ranging from international relations, trade, and food security to manuscripts should be relevant and scientifically in-depth. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Turkey's NATO membership, we published a special issue of the magazine in May. Now our main goal is to publish the writings of valuable scientists from different countries in Turkish in our magazine, to gather people of ideas and thoughts under the same roof.