THE MARMARA FOUNDATION HOLDS
THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 2010

        Academic Council Meeting of Marmara Foundation has welcomed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, H.E. Mr. Huseyin Ozgurgun.

        Marmara Group Foundation for Strategic and Social Researches realised its first meeting of Academic Council by the participation of H.E. Huseyin Ozgurgun, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in Point Hotel, İstanbul.

        The meeting was moderated by Prof. Dr. Tunç Erdem, former Rector of Marmara University and Chair of Academic Council and the Presidential Board of the Council was formed by Dr. Akkan Suver, President of Marmara Foundation, Mr. Şamil Ayrım, Member of Board of Directors of the Marmara Foundation and Dr. Fatih Saraçoğlu, member of the Executive Council of Marmara Foundation. The other key participants to the meeting were: Mr. Şahap Kocatopçu, Former Minister of Industry and Dean of Marmara Foundation, Board Members of Marmara Foundation and members of the Academic Council, Mr. Ahmet Kırman, Chairman and Managing Director to Şişecam, Mr. Yalçın Sönmez, President of TOSYÖV, Mr. Hakan Sönmez Law Counsel for Turkmenistan-Turkey and Mr. Sami Kohen journalist-author.

        Prof. Dr. Tunç Erdem, Chair of Academic Council stated that was the first meeting of the academic council in 2010-2011 period and added that “The Cyprus issue has always been an important matter for me. Mr. Erdem emphasized the quote of H.E Mr. Rauf Denktaş, former president of TRNC “ Once the motherland sneezes, its son gets cold.” Mr Erdem also announced that new developments stated in the previous meeting of United Nations about Cyprus issue will be the points that would be discussed in the council meeting.

        Dr. Akkan Suver, President of Marmara Foundation began his words by explaining new forthcoming activities of the foundation in 2011. Mr Suver stated “We, as Academic Council will be welcoming Hon. Ambassador of United States of America and H.E Binali Yıldırım, Minister of Transportation will be visiting us next month as well. This year, we will be organizing the Eurasian Economic Summit, organized for 13 years, on 13-14-15 April as there will be elections in May. Currently, 4 ministers and H.E. President of Macedonia has formally acknowledged their presence in the meeting. Last year, we welcomed 11 presidents of the different countries (3 of them were currently on duty), 2 prime ministers and 24 ministers who were on actual duty in the summit and this year we would like to feel precious presence of H.E. President of TRNC” General Secretary of Marmara Foundation Mr. Engin Köklüçınar gave brief information about H.E. Hüseyin Özgürgün, Minister of Foreign Affairs TRNC.

        H.E. Huseyin Özgürgün has stated that he was very content to be with group of people who have high level of knowledge on developments in Cyprus adding that they became a part of negotiation process in order to sustain full safety and sovereignty. H.E Özgürgün underlined that their wish would be the equality of two nation and continuity of guarantorship of Turkish side. “The equality of both sides is inevitable for us and the negotiation period has begun again. This period is supervised by United Nations. It has been reported to Ban Ki-Mon that negotiations will proceed as soon as possible.” said Mr. Özgürgün. He also emphasized the importance of the continuity of treaty of alliance and guarantee signed in 1960 but he also stated there is no common agreement on property ownership, land and security yet. He also told that they recommended options such as exchange, indemnity and return for property ownership. H.E. Özgürgün also said that they recommended alternative property option for non-refundable properties and Property Development Board in operation but this was not accepted by Greek side. H.E. Özgürgün recalled that it was pointed out that the cancellation of the isolation would provide much benefit to reach to a common consensus and solution. He cited that “The negotiations have been going on for 42 years but there is no consensus reached. It is obvious that the only path to consensus will be around the table.” (November 25, 2010)