Dr. Akkan Suver, President of the Marmara Group Foundation, along with Secretary General Sezgin Bilgiç and Işıl Bilgiç, attended the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) held in Baku.

The General Assembly was chaired by PABSEC Secretary General Prof. Dr. Asaf Hadjiev and the Head of the Turkish Delegation, Fatih Dönmez.

In his speech at the General Assembly, Dr. Akkan Suver spoke about the contributions of Süleyman Demirel to the establishment of PABSEC, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his passing.

Speech Text by Dr. Akkan SUVER at the 65th General Assembly Meeting of PABSEC

Honorable President,
Today, I would like to make an off-agenda speech to your esteemed assembly.
You will recall that the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization was established in 1992. A year later, in 1993, PABSEC was founded.
One of the significant rights and stakeholders in the establishment of both BSEC and PABSEC was Turkey’s 9th President, Süleyman Demirel.
Yesterday was marked as the tenth anniversary of Süleyman Demirel's passing.
In these difficult and painful days when we are dealing with wars and conflicts, I want to speak about Süleyman Demirel, a man of peace and democracy.
Süleyman Demirel was the architect of the formation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization with the idea of sharing peace, stability, and prosperity in the Black Sea region.
At that time, neither Romania nor Bulgaria was a member of the EU.
Demirel led the establishment of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization with the thought and determination to achieve peace, stability, and prosperity together with neighboring countries, whether or not they had a border with the Black Sea.
Süleyman Demirel was a leader who believed in the philosophy of peace at home and peace in the world, as advocated by Great Atatürk, striving to understand each other, build empathy and dialogue, and tackle common problems with resilience and goodwill.
His vision aimed to keep countries away from the environment of war.
His compass was diplomacy.
BSEC and PABSEC-like formations were given great importance. He believed that such organizations, as a result of difficult negotiations, increase mutual trust, bring people together on common ground, and are institutions that safeguard peace.
The Marmara Group Foundation, which I am currently chairing, was also established for this purpose. Twenty-eight years ago, he encouraged us to establish the Eurasia Economy Summits for this same goal.
The "perpetual peace" described by philosopher Immanuel Kant may be a utopian concept.
However, the legacy left to us by Süleyman Demirel is the belief that peace can be established, sustained, and spread as a culture by those who can understand its true value.
We have taken his visionary leadership as an example at the Marmara Group Foundation.
We have adopted the respect for institutions that we learned from him as a principle at the Marmara Group Foundation.
We believe that the peace prize he taught us and that we sincerely pursue will lead to a world with less nourishment and safer practices under all circumstances.
On the tenth anniversary of his passing, we remember this great statesman Süleyman Demirel with mercy and longing.