ALIKEV, Young Artist Fund Exhibition: ‘We Will Build a Free World Together with Youth’

Emel Korkmaz, Chairman of the Board of ALIKEV, who defines herself as the Mother Emel of all children, participated in the ‘Genç Sanatçı Fonu Sergisi’ (Young Artist Fund Exhibition) organized with the theme of ‘Making Peace with the City’. Inviting young people to visit the exhibition to witness what they can achieve when given the opportunity, Mother Emel said, ‘Young people are our future, we must protect our future. With the scholarships we give to our children, they will have a profession and first of all, they will be beneficial individuals to themselves and the society, I have no doubt about that.’

The Young Artist Fund Exhibition, organized by the Ali İsmail Korkmaz Foundation (ALIKEV) to support the project ideas and dreams of young artists and to open up more space for art and young people, was opened on November 27 at GaleriBu. The exhibition, organized with the theme of ‘Making Peace with the City’ this year, features the works of 11 young artists.

The exhibition, which includes works from different branches of art such as photography, oil painting, short films, and documentaries, awaits its visitors at GaleriBu in Galata until December11.

We talked to ALIKEV Chairman of the Board of Directors Emel Korkmaz and ALIKEV General Coordinator Deniz Umut Eker about the ALIKEV and Young Artist Fund Exhibition, the processes of fundraising in civil society, and the relationship between civil society and media.

Mother of All Children

Emel Korkmaz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ALİKEV, describes herself as the mother of ‘Ali İsmail’ and the ‘Mother Emel’ of all children. Ali İsmail Korkmaz suffered a cerebral hemorrhage as a result of the blows he received on his head by the police and a group with sticks in an alley where he fled after the police intervention, during the Gezi Park protests in Eskişehir, and died as a result of his struggle for life in a coma for 38 days.

ALIKEV (Ali İsmail Korkmaz Foundation) to realize the unfinished dreams of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, who has been striving to do work that has social sensitivity to himself, the youth and the society throughout his life, and his family and friends continue to provide scholarships to many students and contribute to their education.

‘Young People Will Build a Better Life for All of Us’

Feeling incredibly happy that they will support the youth with the income of the exhibition, Emel Korkmaz, Chairman of the Board of ALIKEV and mother of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, said the following about the exhibition: ‘The importance of this exhibition is very significant for us. Today, we have seen once again that if the young people are given the opportunity and the space, they will achieve great things and establish a better life for all of us. I invite everyone to visit the Young Artist Fund Exhibition and see for themselves what young people can do when we give them the opportunity.’

‘Young People Are Our Future’

Emphasizing that they have inherited a legacy based on what her son Ali İsmail Korkmaz did, Mother Emel said, ‘The fact that our bright children are realizing their dreams in a foundation established in the name of Ali İsmail gives me strength. I would like to thank all our stakeholders who support our foundation. Young people are our future, we must protect our future. With the scholarships we give to our children, they will have a profession and will first be beneficial individuals to themselves and to the society, I have no doubt about that. But the country’s economy and conditions are getting worse day by day. For this reason, let’s not forget how difficult conditions students have to study. Let’s not forget and support our children’s education more.’

‘We Have So Many Children in Need’

Mother Emel stated that as ALIKEV, they give scholarships to university students and high school students studying in Hatay. ‘Last year we had 234 students, this year we are planning to complete 300. Because we have a lot of children who really need it. I personally attend and see the scholarship interviews. We have children like diamonds who really want to study, and they cannot study because of financial difficulties. Now, house rents and road charges are very high all over Turkey. We know that if we do not provide support, those children will not be able to study. We have children who save their school money by working hard during the summer holidays. We try to support them as much as we can,’ she said.

‘The Majority of Our Scholarships Came from the Istanbul Marathon’

ALIKEV was affected by the current changes as follows: ‘We were launching a donation campaign from the Istanbul Marathon every year. We provided scholarships to our children with the donations received. The majority of our scholarships came from the Istanbul Marathon. We regret that we are not able to give scholarships to more of our children. We still have not received a positive or negative response from the governor’s office. Why weren’t we allowed to participate in the Istanbul Marathon this year? We have no other purpose than to support our children, touch their lives and raise awareness. We are still hopeful, looking forward to the next marathons.’

‘Gezi Left Me with Its Pain’

Mother Emel, who sees herself as the mother of all children, expressed how she felt despite the years when Gezi was talked about: ‘They took my baby from us eight and a half years ago. Gezi left me with its pain. When travel is talked about, I think of the pain I went through. But on the other hand, the fact that people are as sensitive as people after all this time, that my baby is still remembered and not forgotten, keeps me alive and makes me strong. My Ali İsmail is gone, but he left something, he touched people’s hearts and left. In that process, we formed a bond with the families of our children who were cut off from life, like my Ali İsmail, and that bond has never been broken.’

‘The Main Theme of the Exhibition “Peace” Is Ali İsmail Korkmaz’s Story’

Deniz Umut Eker, General Coordinator of ALIKEV, spoke as follows about the Young Artist Fund exhibition: ‘When it started in 2019, the theme was “Peace”. We will continue to keep “Peace” as the main theme and to deal with different concepts together with “Peace” in sub-titles. In this context, it should be reminded that the foundation’s emergence is the story of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, who passed away after his right to life was taken away while exercising his right to freedom of expression in a city and youth movement. We are witnessing changing and transforming living spaces as in the Taksim Gezi Park Resistance period. The continuation of this transformation during the pandemic period pushed us to work on the theme of “Making Peace with the City”. We believe that all living things in the city, with their own identities and places, are the subject of this peace.’

‘We Organized This Exhibition with Our Own Resources and In-kind Supports’

Pointing out that they did not aim to generate an income with the Young Artist Fund exhibition, Eker said, ‘We organized this exhibition entirely with our own resources and in-kind support. But in this field, our door is always open to institutions and individuals who want to support us, whether with their experience or financially.’

Stating that as ALIKEV, they have been trying to implement their activities through individual donations since the first day they were established, Eker said, ‘The number of our donors who support us throughout this process is increasing. We believe that both the story of the establishment and the mission and values that the foundation aims at have a counterpart in people.’

‘We Continued Scholarship Payments During the Pandemic’

ALIKEV has supported students during the pandemic, Eker said, ‘Due to the uncertainty created by educational institutions starting distance education with the pandemic and university students being forced out of the dormitories and returning to their families, we have conveyed to the students who benefit from the scholarship fund that we will not seek the conditions for the continuity of the scholarship, such as participating in volunteering activities in a non-governmental organization and grade point average, during the pandemic. We continued to make scholarship payments without interruption. We moved our ongoing volunteer program in the field, Düş Elçileri Program (Dream Ambassadors Program), to digital for similar reasons. Again, we carried out our Young Artist Fund program, which we called during the pandemic period, entirely through digital tools.’

Why Didn’t ALIKEV Organize a Donation Campaign in the Istanbul Marathon?

Explaining why they did not organize a donation campaign in the Istanbul Marathon, Eker continued as follows:

‘Our fundraising permit application to the Hatay Governorship Provincial Civil Society Relations Directorate had not yet been finalized on the date of the marathon. That’s why we decided not to run a fundraiser during the marathon.

As ALIKEV, we do not see the Istanbul Marathon as just a fundraising activity. The marathon process has been an event for us from the very beginning, where we came together with our volunteers and supporters, had the opportunity to work closely, and caught up with them.’

‘We Think It Is a Perception Management

On the other hand, Eker made statements about how the ‘Preventing the Proliferation of Financing Weapons of Mass Destruction’ and the ‘Law on Aid Collection’ numbered 2860, which was adopted in December 2020, affected the civil society world and ALIKEV as follows:

‘With the amendments, the regulations regarding the aid collection processes, methods and notifications of associations and foundations and the sanctions against them have been increased. We think that even mentioning weapons of mass destruction and the concepts of association and foundation within the same law is a perception study. We see it as another negative thing that the objections and opinions of NGOs were not taken into account in a law change that concerns approximately 125 thousand organizations.’

Osman Kavala’s Trial Process on Civil Society

‘The trial process conducted through Osman Kavala and the stakeholders of the civil area is also used as a pressure tool on civil society. Because of this and similar pressures, unfortunately, censorship and self-censorship started to appear as a reflex within organizations. We may have to take these decisions in order to protect our institution and its stakeholders. I would like to express this as a self-criticism.

With these changes and the perception that is being tried to be managed, the fact that civil society tries to act and find a way even in a narrowing space increases our hope for the future. We think that the fact that organizations carrying out rights-based activities, especially women’s and LGBTI+ organizations do not take a step back despite the increasing pressure on them, is a source of hope for other NGOs as well.’

Civil Society and Media Relationship

Eker, who criticizes that NGOs do not find much space in traditional media channels, said, ‘When they find a place, they are mostly featured with service-based activities and due to legal events. We think that this is mostly related to the state of the traditional media and the understanding of news. The preparation of news content with a rights-based understanding will contribute to the clarity of the speech of the NGOs that are the subject of the news and to increase its impact.’

NGOs Media Visibility

Emphasizing that the media will be able to approach the civil society world with more interest by feeding and learning from each other correctly, Eker concluded her words as follows: ‘I observe that NGOs find more place for themselves in the relatively newly established media channels broadcasting on the internet. The formations of NGOs working in the field of media also have a positive contribution to this issue. At the same time, it is important for NGOs to increase their competence in using social media tools such as Podcasts, Instagram, and Twitter in terms of accelerating this transformation. Increasing the contribution of both sides towards this field will increase the visibility of NGOs in the media as we want.’