Association for Liberal Thinking (ALT) hosted a roundtable conference in cooperation with the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation (JHS) of Sweden, affiliated with the Moderate Party, in the coalition government of Sweden, National Independence Party (NIPA), one of the opposition parties in Azerbaijan and Georgian United National Movement Party on November 21, 2013 at the Marmara Taksim Hotel, Istanbul.

Regarding the fact that states infringe or restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms such as of association, of expression with a perception of threat toward national interests, the conference was held to review the historical experiences of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Sweden, to discuss the ways of establishing an open society under given circumstances and to strengthen the cooperation in civil arena.

The conference, moderated by Mr. Thomas Cumhur Gür, senior advisor of JHS, started with the opening remarks of Mr. Göran Lennmarker, the Chairman of JHS, pointing out the Swedish experience. In the first session titled “National security, militarism, nationalism and a free society – the historical experiences of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia”, Mr. Arzukhan Alizade, general secretary of NIPA, Mr. Alex Rondeli, President of Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies and Prof. Tanel Demirel, vice president of ALT made introductory presentations. In this session, in general, Georgia and Azerbaijan’s issues of national security and sovereignty after the collapse of Soviet Union, and Turkey’s struggle against militarism and bureaucratic tutelage were put forward.

In the second session titled “How questions of territorial integrity, border disputes and occupation affect the political and social climate”, Mr. Giorgi Kandelaki, member of Committee on Foreign Affairs in Georgia, Swedish Ambassador Diana Janse in Tbilisi, Prof. Dr. Ömer Çaha, at Yıldız Technical University and Mr. Yusif Baghirzade, the Chairman of NIPA drew frameworks of the recent situations in their home countries.

The last session was titled “The struggle for civil and political freedoms vs. issues of national security and sovereignty”. Hereby Dr. Murat Yılmaz, Coordinator of Democratization program at Institute of Strategic Thinking covered Turkey’s democratization and reconciliation processes. The second speaker Mr. Elshan Mustafayev, international secretary of NIPA, spoke of Azerbaijan’s contemporary issues along with Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Mr. David Darchiashvili, deputy chairman of Committee on Defense and Security, reviewed Georgia’s struggle for political and civil freedoms and Georgia’s progress in this regard. This session concluded with questions and contributions after the speech of Kristoffer Tamsons, on relation between freedom and security, who is the director of Moderate Party Office in Stockholm County Council.

The conference was closed by Mr Göran Lennmarker’s assessments and remarks.  The participants found opportunity to realize that issues of national security, sovereignty, the border disputes, militarism had been a problem and excuse in any country. Hearing similar kinds of experience from other countries be them from a nearby geography or not helps to recognize that one country is not unique. Tackling with such difficulties as well has not been a specific struggle and one country should not respect excuses of national security to restrict freedoms. The meeting has proven that particular experiences in challenging actual, single cases and promoting democratization and liberalization have been therefore valuable as well as getting to know that there are international allies in civil society.  

Round Table Conference on Struggling for an open society – coping with issues of national security and sovereignty
Istanbul, Turkey

November 21, 2013

Working languages: English and Turkish

Chatham House Rule

 

Programme

Moderator: Mr. Cumhur Thomas Gür

 

09.30   Registration

 

10.00   Opening of the Conference

            Mr. Göran Lennmarker, Sweden

            Chairman, Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation

 

10.30   Session I

National security, militarism, nationalism and a free society – the historical experiences of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia

Mr. Arzukhan Alizade, Azerbaijan

            Secretary General, National Independence Party of Azerbaijan

Dr. Alex Rondeli, Georgia

            President, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies

            Ambassador Michael Sahlin, Sweden

            Partner, Consilio International AB

Prof. Dr. Tanel Demirel, Turkey

            Vice President, Association for Liberal Thinking    

            Discussion

 

12.00   Lunch

 

13.30   Session II

How questions of territorial integrity, border disputes and occupation affect the political and social climate

            Mr. Giorgi Kandelaki MP, Georgia

            Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs

Ambassador Diana Janse, Sweden

                      Embassy of Sweden, Tbilisi        

Prof. Dr. Ömer Çaha, Turkey

            Political Science Department, Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi

Mr. Yusif Baghırzade Azerbaijan

            Chairman, National Independence Party of Azerbaijan      

Discussion

15.00   Coffee

 

15.30   Session III

The struggle for civil and political freedoms vs. issues of national security and sovereignty

Dr. Murat Yılmaz, Turkey

            Director of Democratization Issues, Institute for Strategic Thinking

            Mr. Elshan Mustafayev, Azerbaijan

            International Secretary, National Independence Party of Azerbaijan

            Mr. David Darchiashvili MP, Georgia

            Deputy Chairman, Committee on Defense and Security

            Mr. Kristoffer Tamsons, Sweden

            Director, Moderate Party Office in Stockholm County Council

Discussion

18.30   Dinner

                      venue: The Kebap, Inonu cad No 22, Gumussuyu, Istanbul     

 

Venue:

The Marmara Taksim,   Taksim Square, Istanbul

Phone: +90 212 334 83 00,   Fax: +90 212 244 05 09

 

http://taksim.themarmarahotels.com