ESTOB spokesman Mehmet Aydoğan: “There is no I, only we”

Mehmet Aydoğan, Spokesman of the Aegean Civil Society Union and President of the Federation of Konyalılar Associations, was the guest on Gün Başlıyor, the programme prepared and presented by experienced presenter and journalist Ayşegül Koç on SON Mühür TV. Aydoğan criticised the parties’ understanding of democracy and described the system they have created for civil society organisations.

Mehmet Aydoğan, Spokesman of the Aegean Civil Society Union (ESTOB) and President of the Confederation of Konyalılar Associations (KONFED), noted that the history of unions, federations and foundations goes back to the 1990s, and said the union of hearts they had built was not permitted by law in the past.

Explaining that hometown associations and associations for people with disabilities were founded for various purposes, President Aydoğan said they regularly come together with different civil society organisations and hold events. “We always had a togetherness through which we voiced the problems and difficulties of our city, İzmir, and of the country as a whole. When the law did not allow a merger, we put forward a proposal for a platform. Nükhet Hotar, then MP for İzmir, took our file to the Prime Minister on behalf of all the MPs. As İzmir’s civil society organisations, we had given a briefing to the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. After our meeting with Ms Nükhet, the platform proposal we submitted with the signatures of 22 ministers became law. It concerned NGOs founded for different purposes being able to come together,” he said.

“There has to be someone who knows the technical side”

Noting that NGOs founded for different purposes go back a long way, President Aydoğan said efforts to unite them had existed in İzmir before. He said ESTOB had previously been led by Hızır Murtezaoğlu, President of the Black Sea Confederation: “Hundreds of NGOs are affiliated with us, so we said let us speed up this togetherness. Hızır Murtezaoğlu said he would close ESTOB because of his workload. We had an association already set up, so we wanted to take it forward. We all have different strengths, which we know from experience. But there has to be someone who knows the technical side. Bülent Korkmaz is someone who understands it. We immediately rebuilt ESTOB from scratch and renewed the team. So as not to lose time, we came together and worked on the statutes.”

“There is no democracy within the parties”

Objecting to parties deciding their candidates for council member, MP and mayor through lists sent from headquarters, President Aydoğan stressed that appointments from the top are wrong. “You sit in Ankara; how can you know a council member in Karabağlar or Dikili? Someone recommends a name and you decide. Whoever is close to the top, whoever pays more, fills the quotas,” he said in criticism of the situation.

“Twenty years ago we envied the CHP”

Noting that he had once been a candidate for the centre-right Motherland Party (ANAP), President Aydoğan said that 20 years ago they had envied the CHP’s primary elections for candidacies. “These primaries were held in the halls of the İzmir Fair, with ballot boxes set up. İzmir would bubble like a pot of bulgur. At the time I was ANAP’s candidate for Mayor of Konak. With its remarkable primaries, the CHP had the dynamism of having to engage with everyone. Because I had tens of thousands of members, I was confident, and I used to feel envious. Twenty years on, the CHP is no different from the other parties. As Deputy Chair of the Karabağlar Council, this saddens me. Sensible colleagues who spoke out criticised it. Twenty years ago we had a democratic system. The party leader has a quota; that is a separate matter. I think it is wrong for the whole list to come from Ankara,” he said.

“We saw how undemocratic the parties are and developed a new system”

Calling the parties’ candidate selection undemocratic, President Aydoğan explained that they had developed a new system so as not to deserve the same criticism. Noting that no one, once elected, should sit in the chair and say “I am the president here, I am the king here forever”, he said: “Drawing on our experience, we introduced a democratic system. We have a council of 15 principal presidents. There must always be a president to represent us. The spokesman for the term, chosen from among the principal presidents, will change every two months. That is what we first agreed. Our colleagues decided on it. They chose me as the first spokesman, and I thank everyone. We set up a system so that, after two months, the duty passes among the principal presidents, starting with the oldest organisation once the term of our two colleagues on the presiding board ends. I do not appoint those who come after me. We gave our days and nights to this so as not to make the same mistakes as politicians.”

“There is no I, only we: we are all presidents of equal standing”

Saying that they constantly criticise politicians, President Aydoğan noted that when elections come around they all talk about a quota for women but never put it into practice. He explained that they had created a second decision-making body to address this. “We always criticise politicians. When elections come, they all talk about how there should be a 40 per cent quota for women. To set an example, we decided that each federation would nominate a woman to the second decision-making body. We created a women’s second body with as many members as there are principal presidents. We joined as the Konyalılar Federation with our colleague Ayşegül İnceoğlu. We have 13 rules, and members sign up to them. Everyone must bring a clean criminal record certificate from the prosecutor’s office. It is not a matter of simply coming together. Many colleagues are waiting in line. As soon as we started, we continued our international work. The Balkan Women’s Associations in Kosovo applied, and we brought them onto the council of principal presidents. Since it is hard for us to attend meetings in the Balkans, we appointed a representative from Türkiye, Sultan Tatlı, who attended the first meeting addressed to them. Here there is no I, only we. We are all presidents of equal standing,” he said.