A MYTH CAME TRUE EURASIAN ECONOMIC SUMMITS ARE 10 YEARS OLD “In year 2007 we are going to realize the 10th Eurasian Economic Summit. For an NGO it is not easy to realize this kind of huge international organization continuously. It is a success for an NGO to make a view, a dream real and acceptable. What is civil society or an NGO? First of all civil society means responsibility and then representation of different areas of the society. Responsibility should be for our government and republic but at the same time it should be for our own people. Representation doesn’t take its roots from our personalities, but from our history protected decisively and careful by our side. The Marmara Foundation keeps its vitality strictly connected with criterias, universal values and the rules of the representation. There is no adventure or treachery or struggle. There is no partiality in favor of party on power or opposition. In this long way we work for the interest and prestige of our country, to improve the life standards of our people. We effort to strengthen democracy, superiority of law and for the fundamental human rights and freedom. As it is in the country, activities, views and studies of the Marmara Foundation respected by the international arena and Marmara Foundation carried the bright face of Turkey not only to Eurasia but also to America and Africa. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Project is one of the important point that Marmara Foundation witnessed and worked for. For this project called “Project of the Century” by H.E. Haydar Aliyev - Former President of Azerbaijan, H.E. Süleyman Demirel – 9th President of the Turkish Republic worked to realize this project very patiently and carefully. H.E. Edvard Shevardnadze – Former President of Georgia and H.E. Bill Clinton – Former President of the USA highly strived. We cannot deny the strategic cooperation among these 4 people and the contributions of the Marmara Foundation and its Eurasian Economic Summits for the realization of this Project. Especially the Turkish Ministers of Energy; Cumhur Ersümer, Zeki Çakan and Dr. Hilmi Güler during their periods of service did their best to make the Project come true. Addition to these names H.E. Valeh Aleskerov from Azerbaijan and Hon. Osman Göksel from Turkey are the nameless heroes of this long run. All these names or their representative keep the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Project always on the top on the agenda at the Eurasian Economic Summits. I believe in this Eurasian Economic Summits has even a small share in the realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Project. In the future this contribution of Marmara Foundation will be seen as a drop in the ocean. I cannot find words to define my happiness on 13 July 2006 in Ceyhan. Ten years ago this kind of formation was a kind of a dream but today final stage of the BTC is realized by H.E. Ahmet Necdet Sezer, H.E. İlham Aliyev and Mikheil Saakashvili and I cannot find any word to express my feelings. I personally participated to the inauguration of the BTC Project; “Project of the Centuries” and I can say that in the realization of it Marmara Foundation played a strategic role. In this perspective once more Marmara Foundation showed that how neutral, and uniting NGO it is. In large scale Marmara Foundation is a civil initiative that can make people come together from different fields; parliamentarians, ministers, former generals, businessmen, bureaucrats, academicians, working people or retired people, etc. This civil initiative is reconciled with the Turkish people This civil initiative is reconciled with the West. This civil initiative is a group of distinctive personalities representing Turkish Nation in the UN, UNESCO, OSCE and Balkan Political Club. This civil initiative realized many “firsts” for Turkey in the previous years. Ten years before me and my colleagues started to study very carefully, stubbornly and patiently and as a result of these efforts we managed to bring mosque, church and synagogue. Again ten years before with the Eurasian Economic Summits we made the first efforts to create the Eurasia Region attractive for the entire world. If there is a specific concept in our mind called Eurasia Marmara Foundation has important contributions in this sense. When we started to this construction many people and high rank officers said us that it is a dream and cannot be realized. But we believe in this and walk on our ways with decisive steps. This torch burned by the Marmara Foundation carries the civil society responsibility of the Turkish Nation. This torch includes human rights and social gender equality. This torch includes respect to principles and values of the Turkish Republic. This torch includes views and ideas of the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This torch includes the consciousness to say “Yes to Europe” and its universal values. In this frame Marmara Foundation represented Turkey and its people in Brussels, Paris, Athens, Warsaw, Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam with high level of participation. Addition to these with the support of the Turkish Nation Marmara Foundation reflected the bright face of Turkey in Sofia, Tbilisi, Baku, Tel Aviv, Damascus, Belgrade, New York, Astana, Kiev, Minsk, Sarajevo, Rome, Vatican, Nicosia, Ulaanbaatar and Bled. As an outcome of these measurements the United Nations and the European Union started to cooperate, share experience and realize projects with the Marmara Foundation. Marmara Foundation represents an understanding. This understanding is the importance of the civil society. Marmara Foundation with its civil society identity makes project for the in favor of its people, state and the future of the country. As a civil initiative our objective is to walk to the peaceful and happy future together with our state and nation. And Marmara Foundation attaches great importance to the social justice as much as economic development. We assume that there are three important priorities for social responsibility. First of our priority is our young people and women. Consequently, Marmara Foundation takes the education of the young people as a responsibility to the next generations. And we think that this responsibility primarily should be handled by the state. Second important responsibility for the Marmara Foundation is the service for health. Our people are so important for us and each of our citizens should be sure about the protection of the state. This should be another priority for our social responsibility. For the Marmara Foundation the last social responsibility should be for our retired people. Our retired people should have chance to say that: “I worked for my state for many years and now my state will care about me” In short; Marmara Foundation attaches importance to women rights, education of the young population, health, social security as much as building dams, development of the communication services and other needs of the civilization. We find these important because of our social responsibility with our civil society identity. The Eurasian Economic Summits are the peak of these views, ideas and responsibilities. It could not be possible to reach the 10th Eurasian Economic Summit if they are not a passion for us. It could not be possible to reach the “Year of Honor” if all the participants do not have a common desire and belief. Eurasian Economic Summits are not an alternative way of thinking and if it could not be able to carry a philosophy out of its geography it could not be possible to make it one of the most important international meetings in the region. With these feelings we managed to reach a philosophy which we call it the Eurasian Economic Summits.