An NGO exporting ideas from İzmir to the world: İSTÖP

İSTÖP, otherwise known as the İzmir Civil Society Organisations Platform, is a very successful model of civil society organisation that İzmir has exported to the world… Under the founding presidency of Konyalılar Federation President Mehmet Aydoğan, this NGO is quietly offering the world a very successful model of civil society organisation. In a sense, it is exporting from İzmir a successful model that will lead the way in civil society solidarity.

The projects brought to life under Mehmet Aydoğan’s leadership by İSTÖP, which grew from the Konyalılar Association, Foundation and Federation into an umbrella organisation that now includes other NGOs, are too many to count.

From the creation of dozens of large forests that produce the oxygen İzmir breathes today, to training young leaders and employment projects that give unskilled jobseekers a profession, there is almost no field İSTÖP has not touched… With three major projects currently awaiting approval at the Islamic Development Bank, İSTÖP has also completed preparations for a project on Syrian refugees, a top issue on our country’s agenda, that is set to resonate around the world.