Dr. Akkan Suver, who participated in the 6th anniversary ceremonies of the World Day of Conscience held in Vienna, spoke at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna.

President of the Marmara Group Foundation Dr Akkan Suver, Secretary General Sezgin Bilgiç, Marmara Group Foundation EU and Human Rights Platform Chairwomen Müjgan Suver and Board of Trustees Member Işıl Bilgiç attended the World Conscience Day meeting in Vienna.

In his speech, Dr Akkan Suver mentioned the importance of the World Day of Conscience which is in its 6th year.

Dr Hong Tao-Tze, President of FOWPAL, Filip Vujanovic, former President of Montenegro, Moncef Marzouki, former President of Tunisia, Rosalia Arteaga Serrano, former President of Ecuador, Antona Caramona, former President of Trinidad and Jamel Fares Alrowaiei, Ambassador of Bahrain took the floor separately and spoke on the Day of Conscience.

Text of the Speech Delivered by Dr. Akkan Suver in Vienna on April 2, 2025 on the Occasion of World Conscience Day

In these difficult days that our planet is going through, I would like to start by expressing my appreciation for the conference organized by the FOWPAL Family, which attaches great importance to the unity of values such as love, peace and conscience.

I would also like to thank the FOWPAL Family for carefully and diligently reminding us of values such as love, peace and conscience in these days when humanity is being destroyed.

What really needs to happen, what really needs to be done is to act in accordance with conscience, to live in accordance with conscience. Therefore, if we keep the sense of conscience alive, love will come by itself, peace will come by itself.

We must feel responsible for ensuring that people insist on listening to the voice of their conscience.

Five years ago, when the world was dealing with Covid-19, Dr. Hong Tao-Tze spoke out from America with great responsibility and brought us together with On-Line at that time and took the first step of World Conscience Day. The year was 2020.

In the conditions of that day, this was a big step, a great hope for our future.

Therefore, today we are in the fifth year of the announcement of the Day of Conscience to the world.
This great promise is important for our planet that we will leave to those who will come after us.
This great pledge is important for the end of wars.
This great pledge is important for ecology, climate change and agriculture.
This great promise is important for the future of culture and civilization.
In reality, this great promise is humanity itself.
For it is both wrong and unnecessary to call a person without a conscience a human being.
I will discuss the word conscience as a value that must be believed, embraced and taught.
Without the concept of conscience, how could human existence be questioned?
Without the concept of conscience, would being right or justice have any meaning?
Without the concept of conscience, would people have love for the homeland, respect for the flag, and a sense of ownership of the land?

To summarize, man finds the truth through his conscience.
Conscience is as different from intellectual understanding as seeing is different from looking.
Conscience has no syllogism, logic, reasoning, hypothesizing.
It knows the truth directly, without the need for all this.

Although we distinguish the color blue from yellow with our eyes, we know the difference between compassion and love, fear and anxiety with our conscience.

Having said that, I would like to talk a little bit about virtue and conscience.

As you know, virtue means the attainment of complete moral maturity. In this respect, it is a higher degree than good morals.

The conscience of a virtuous person is not passive like the conscience of an ordinary person. It not only avoids what is forbidden, but also pursues what must be done and keeps it alive. Performing a virtuous act gives the person the satisfaction of producing a work. Just as a human being expresses his or her qualities and personality through a work of art, the virtuous individual, through his or her conscientious action, is freed from being an ordinary and meaningless being and experiences the peace of having done something good.

Accordingly, duties and practices related to justice are generally supported by legal sanctions. However, helping people and tendencies in this direction are sanctions of individual conscience. Compliance with these shows the degree of virtue and maturity of the individual.

The formation of conscience in human beings bears the traces of a power beyond oneself. The conscientious individual who believes in a being of 'absolute goodness and beauty', whose inner consciousness dimension is active, will be a person of goodness and beauty, will think of goodness and beauty, will want it, and will strive for everyone else to do the same. As a result, the path to happiness for the individual and society will be opened.

Reason does not consent to anything other than goodness and mercy except in sleep and unconsciousness. Reason is the witness and conscience is the judge for events and spiritual values. It judges whether something is good or bad, regardless of the material benefit to be gained. Conscience, not reason, feels sorrow in the face of injustice, evil and murder.

I say, “Blessed are the people of conscience” and on behalf of myself, my wife and Sezgin Bilgiç, Secretary General of our Marmara Group Foundation, and his wife. I greet you all respectfully under the high light of conscience.

I would also like to thank Dr. Hong Tao-Tze for bringing us together.