| FROM CHIEF | Murat SARAYLI |
| Chairman of the Board of TUGIAD/Confedereration of Young European Businessmen (YES) |
|
Defending our rights in EU, which is a union of negotiations, makes us closer to EU |
Consequently, Turkey, despite millions of Turkish nationals living in EU countries and the high volume of its foreign trade is not in the place and position where it should be. That’s why we need to spend the required efforts with the motto “Europe doesn’t belong to its member states but to its citizens”.
Court of Justice of the European Countries (CJEC) confirmed that Turkish citizens are in the same status with the other EU citizens to seek remedy. Of course, as all other citizens of EU, Turkish people have the liability to defend their rights on their own. But they need to know at first how to defend their rights. In Turkey this issue is not discussed enough and people lack information about their rights and freedoms. In fact this is due to the absence of a specialized organization. The organizational structure of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not suitable to offer such a specialized service.
European Union is unions of negotiations. Turkey must protect the rights of its citizens and make required awareness raising works to help its citizen to defend their rights and freedoms, irrespective of whether it becomes a full member or not. These works are vital for strengthening the democratic structure of our country and for the improvement of our democratic culture. Furthermore, the process of defending their rights of our people would be a driving force for the integration with Europe.
In TÜG‹AD we tried to find answers to the questions “how to manage” this awareness raising process and “what other countries have done?”. And we noticed that the most outstanding solution was implemented by Italy, the country of origin of the biggest immigration to foreign countries. Italians founded an organization called Patronati (Patron Angel) which has carried out very functional works.
That’s why we published last February a report called “Analysis of Italian Model for Advocating People’s Rights as A Guide for the Foundation of Yunus Emre Offices within the Framework of Defending our Rights in European Union: PARTONATI”. In this report prepared by the Europe without Visa Research Group sponsored by TUGIAD and University of Akdeniz, under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. GÜMRÜKÇÜ, the said striking model is analysed.
The main goal of TÜG‹AD with the preparation and publication of this report is to draw attention to the basic rights of our citizens and the need of information to defend their rights and to take a concrete step the most suitable model that can be functional in this field with the contribution of the politicians and intellectuals of our country.
The purpose of the model to be developed should be to ensure that our people living abroad don’t feel alone and unprotected far away from home. On the contrary, they should always feel the presence of their state outside the borders of Turkey. To that effect, we need to build organized structures where necessary as Italians did and our people should be received in these organizations with the love defined by Yunus Emre.
With my respects
