Mehmet Fatih Arslan, advisor of the Marmara Group Foundation, attended the "Asian and African NGOs" - "civil society organizations" meeting organized in the People's Republic of China on the occasion of 2017 Chinese Year. Representatives from Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt and Zambia, as well as Fatih Arslan, expressed their views at the meetings where the seven countries were the main speakers.

The text of Fatih Arslan's speech is below.

First of all, before I start giving my speech, I would like to thank our host China NGO Network of International Exchanges.
My name is Mehmet Fatih ARSLAN and I'm advisor to the Marmara Group Foundation President Mr. Akkan Suver.
I should say the sessions we had with CNIE last two days have encouraged me about the future of the initiative.
With the time finite, thinking infinite, it is hard to explain the core of the message in five minutes.
I will try to express my personal thoughts about the theme of the forum by dealing word by word and I will ask questions, then try to answer myself but I am waiting your contributions as well. There is no single true answer for a question on the path to find the right way and on this path questions asked should be questioned as well. I would like to highlight that the opinions I share are based on the observations rather than mathematical formula. That's why you can find it true, partially true or incorrect. If incorrect, I would be happy to find the right answer with you.
So why we need Stronger People to People Bonds for Better Cooperation?
We as humans have a great feature that makes us land on the moon, cure the unstoppable diseases, and that is cooperation. Not everybody does the same thing, we together constitute the greater picture. To make the cooperation running, we need trust and trust comes with knowing each other well. In my opinion the reason why we trust our family much more than anybody is because in a family everybody knows each other much better than anybody else. that's why families handle problems or cooperate better than any other organization. It is not a coincidence that successful firms or teams say that we are like a family.
So as we have stronger bonds we will have a better cooperation.
Now comes the second question;
What is the role of the civil society organizations at the international stage?
As we search for a better cooperation we need vehicles to identify the needs of the world and ways solving problems. It means in a bigger scale; we need worldwide organizations. In the earlier times, just the governmental bodies formed global organizations like UN, UNESCO, etc. These organizations aim to find solutions to the problems the world faces.

However, as the time passes, it is clear that we need platforms that civil society should interact with each other to help governments find the solutions.

I will give a concrete example that the role of the civil society organizations play.

The first example is the current experience we are going through. Before I come to China, I had no concrete understanding of the initiative . This trip greatly helped me to understand the collaborative effort the countries put in this initiative, the opportunities this cooperation will create. The role of the NGO's should create ways to interact people face to face. As we know each other well, we will build trust on each other which in return will make us cooperate better.

As far as I understand from the previous talks the strength of this cooperation is that every participating country is eager in a transparent way to contribute to the win-win principle.

And my suggestion for the NGO's for a better understanding is that we need the young people to see and visit each other. So that they can have common experiences, memories together. However, by saying young people I am not talking about university students. I think until we come to that point our thoughts have already been shaped.

The NGO's should bring middle or high school students together in an effort to place each teenager to be a family member of the other children. They could live with the families, play together and learn together. I think the teenagers who are successful in their classes or national exams can be selected. NGO's should continuously organize bilateral visits, so that young students will form stronger personal bonds than us.
I thank you again and would like to underline that as Marmara Group Foundation, We are looking for ways to serve for peace and humanity in dialogue with all these institutions.

While expressing my sincere greetings to your High Council, I would like to say that the Marmara Group Foundation, which is 32 years old, is the assurance for the peace in the field of civil society in Caucasus, in Middle East and in Balkans.

I would like to present my gratitude to your High Council.

The text of speech that Mehmet Fatih Arslan made during the Brics & Developing Countries Civil Forum on June 12,2017

Dear Madame Moderator,
Distinguished Guests,
First of all, before I start giving my speech, I would like to thank our host China NGO Network of International Exchanges. to give the opportunity to speak in this Forum.
My name is Mehmet Fatih ARSLAN and I'm advisor to the Marmara Group Foundation President Mr. Akkan Suver.
I should say the sessions we had with CNIE for the last two days have encouraged me about the future of the initiative.
As you know, because of the limited time that we presently have, it is hard to explain the core of the message in five minutes.
So why we do need Stronger People to People Bonds for Better Cooperation?
We as humans have a great skill or an expertise that makes us land on the moon, cure the unstoppable diseases, and that is cooperation. Not everybody does the same thing, we together constitute the greater picture. To make the cooperation running, we need trust and trust comes with knowing each other well. In my opinion the reason why we trust our family much more than anybody is because in a family everybody knows each other much better than anybody else. that's why families handle problems or cooperate better than any other organization. It is not a coincidence that successful firms or teams say that we are like a family.
So as we have stronger bonds we will have a better cooperation.
Now comes the second question;
What is the role of the civil society organizations at the international stage?
As we search for a better cooperation we need vehicles to identify the needs of the world and ways solving problems. It means in a bigger scale; we need worldwide organizations. In the earlier times, just the governmental bodies formed global organizations like UN, UNESCO, etc. These organizations aim to find solutions to the problems the world faces.

However, as the time passes, it is clear that we need platforms that civil society should interact and work harmoniously with each other to help governments find the solutions.
I will give a concrete example that the role of the civil society organizations play.
Primarily, it is the current experience we are going through. Before I come to China, I had no concrete understanding of the initiative . This trip greatly helped me to understand the collaborative effort the countries put in this initiative, the opportunities this cooperation will create. It broadened my vision. The role of the NGO's should create ways to interact people face to face. As we know each other well, we will build trust on each other which in return will make us work hand in hand, for the betterment of our countries.
As far as I understand from the previous talks the strength of this cooperation is that every participating country is eager in a transparent way to contribute to the win-win principle.
And my suggestion for the NGO's for a better understanding is that we need the young people to see and visit each other frequently. So that they can have common experiences, memories together. However, by saying young people I am not talking about me or university students. I think until we come to that point our thoughts have already been shaped. The youth's participation is very essential in every global endeavor. After all, they are the real owner of the world we are in. They are the next generation of leaders.
The NGO's should bring middle or high school students together in an effort to place each teenager to be a family member of the other children. They could live with the families, play together and learn together. I think the teenagers who are successful in their classes or national exams can be selected or from the young political leaders. NGO's should continuously organize bilateral visits, so that young students will form stronger personal bonds than us.
I thank you again and would like to underline that as Marmara Group Foundation, We are looking for ways to serve for peace and humanity in dialogue with all these institutions.
While expressing my sincere greetings to your High Council, I would like to say that the Marmara Group Foundation, which is 32 years old, works hard to assure peace in the field of civil society in Caucasus, in Middle East and in Balkans and eventually in every part of the of the world. We are one with you in molding and forming a better Earth.
I would like to present my gratitude to your High Council.
Thank you,