Berkley Center

Background: This interview, conducted between Professor Omer Caha and Brady Walkinshaw, took place by email as part of preparations for a June 24, 2008 consultation in The Hague on "Global Development and Faith-Inspired Organizations in Europe and Africa." In this discussion, Caha reflects on his background and the dynamics of NGOs in Turkey that he noticed as a student. He comments on charity and faith-based organizations, Islam and Turkey, and the ways secularism and faith do or might interact. Specifically, he describes the origins of the Denez Feneri Association, how it operates, and what makes it distinct from other organizations in Turkey focused on alleviating poverty.

Could you describe your own career and the path that has brought you to your current position?

I am actually teaching political science at Fatih University in the Department of Public Administration and Political Science. My interest in NGOs goes back to the years of my M.A. studies. When I was an M.A. student at Bilkent University, Ankara, I became interested in some social movements like environmentalists, greens, and women's movements and their role in the policy making process. The subject of my M.A. thesis was the role of environmental groups in environmental policies. I advanced my studies on social groups during my Ph.D. studies as well. As the subject of my Ph.D. dissertation I analyzed women's movements and how the discourse emphasized by women's groups characterized a new understanding of politics. Recently my interest in the elements of civil society has made me focus on other social groups and NGOs as well.

How does it involve international development work and issues?

Through the studies I mentioned above, I analyzed issues under discussion within a comparative framework. What happens in Turkey and elsewhere was an important question for me. I compared the Turkish environmentalist groups with the other environmentalist groups working in the United States and Europe. I did the same thing in my other studies as well. I wondered above all about the question of why civil society seems to be so weak in Turkey and in other Muslim countries, when compared to the civil society in the west. In the case of many different social groups I have seen that the strong state tradition in Turkey and in other Muslim societies seems to be an important obstacle preventing the development of an influential civil society.

And how has it brought you into contact with formal and informal religious institutions and ideas?

The role of religion in the development of economy and of democracy has been an important subject area for me for a long time. What role religious groups play in economic development? Do religious values promote social groups and encourage them to produce and invest more? If so, what kind of values? Are Islamic values compatible with democracy? Can religion play a positive role in the modernization of Islamic countries? What role do religion and religious groups play in the economy and in politics in developed countries like the United States? These are some questions I have been emphasized for a long time.

Following these questions, I have investigated religion and religious groups and communities in Turkey. I already have some books and articles on this issue. My personal belief is that yes, religion and religious values stand as important reference points and sources of motivation to direct man in hard work, in getting modern education, in institutionalizing a participatory politics, etc. My studies on the case of the United States indicated me that the belief in God and the idea of liberty are two important values that have furthered the development of what we know as the American model. Religion can play such a role in modernization of Muslim societies as well. A moderate and a tolerant understanding of religion can serve such a development.

My personal observation is that what is happening in Turkey already is in this direction. Today a moderate understanding of religion in Turkey is motivating millions of people to invest and develop more and more. Religious groups are actually a leading force of modernization through modern education, free market economy, a peaceful policy and relation at home and abroad, and interfaith dialogue, etc., in Turkey. This is the reason why a study done by the ESI [European Stability Initiative] calls the Anatolian people “Muslim Calvinists.” A Calvinist understanding of religion (hard working, education,  purifying religion, etc) has motivated Muslims to architect this world through hard work and modern education. A proverb of Prophet Muhammed says that “work for this world as you will never die, but at the same time work for thereafter as you will die soon tomorrow." This is an important belief behind Muslims' motivation to work for this world.

Can you give a bit of background on your research on NGOs as it applies to development?

Indeed, NGOs have fundamental functions in development in many ways. In respect to the role of NGOs in tackling a social issue like poverty, four main methods can be underlined. The first method, used either by Turkish NGOs or NGOs elsewhere, is “service providing” activities. Many NGOs provide services such as soup kitchens, counseling, shelter for the homeless, and community-based advice offices. The second method used by NGOs is, in that respect, “campaign launching” activities. Several NGOs launch campaigns aiming at making people aware of issues that affect them, and indicating the way how to tackle these issues. They use this method mostly to influence government on the one hand, and to draw the grassroots attention to certain problems on the other. The third method used by NGOs, particularly as in the case of Deniz Feneri of Turkey, can be seen in their attempts at managing investment-based activities for poor people. This, I think, is a vital and a direct function of NGOs in supporting developments.  Perhaps the last method used by NGOs in eradication of poverty is “policy supporting” activities. There are a number of NGOs which primarily focus on governmental policy and on finding ways to ensure that policy development takes into account the interests of some social groups. There may be other functions played by NGOs, but these seem to me fundamental and vital.

Can you tell us about the establishment of Deniz Feneri? When it was established and how? Please tell us about its story.

Well, the Deniz Feneri Association was officially established in 1998 on the basis of a television program named Deniz Feneri that started to broadcast in 1996 on Turkish TV Channel 7. The television program drew attention of audiences to the poverty in urban area at the beginning but later enlarged its interest to the rural areas as well. Broadcasting during the Ramadan month it, indeed, caused the raising of an important social reaction interested in ways to tackle the problem. Following the massive demand coming from Turkish society to overcome poverty, the organizers of the program felt the need to establish and commit an association to this problem. It can be said that Deniz Feneri Association emerged from the enormous desire of Turkish society to aid the poor people shown in the TV program.

The need to bridge between those who desire to aid and poor people led the founders of the program to establish Deniz Feneri as an independent charity organization in 1998. It has been structured as an independent international NGO committed to alleviate poverty in Turkey and around the globe. Deniz Feneri Association identifies its aim as “to supply all kinds of physical and psychological assistance through aid in kind and cash, in respect of such items as food, clothing, health, training, fuel for heating, rent, shelter, marriage, establishing new families, business housing and other relevant items to people in time of natural disasters, warfare and general poverty." Deniz Feneri paid attention to the allocation of aids to poor people in Turkey in the beginning years. But later it has enlarged its activities through investment projects in Turkey and in other countries.

Deniz Feneri is now organized across the country. Its headquarters and center is found in Istanbul. Moreover, it has regional logistic centers in some capital cities and branches in almost all cities in Turkey. About 130 full-time staff are employed in these centers. It is worth note that Deniz Feneri has developed a very successful volunteer systems to supplement and support the full-time paid staff. It is estimated that about 50,000 volunteers work in every part of the association across the country. It is noteworthy that one of the successes of Deniz Feneri is its performance in recruiting and mobilizing so many volunteers in the country.

How do you characterize the work and the system of the Deniz Feneri? What kind of model have you developed to reach success?

From its beginning as a TV program to the present, the association has always worked to raise public consciousness in Turkey about the question of poverty through TV channels, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and billboards in urban settings. Deniz Feneri has regularly been broadcasting a program named Deniz Feneri every Tuesdays on TV Channel 7. As the outcomes of consciousness-raising activities of the association, a large number of donors are inclined to finance its activities or participate in the activities of the association on a voluntary basis. This program, lasting about one and half hours every week during evening time, shows the activities of the association, in particular by drawing the attention of the audiences to whom and how the services are given. Through this program the donors are called to donate and participate in the services or projects conducted by the association. Deniz Feneri sometimes advertises its activities and projects via different communication networks.

Deniz Feneri receives no support from any government office, nor has it any production center to raise revenue.

Deniz Feneri Association, indeed, represents a new level of professionalism for charity organizations in Turkey. This gives it a unique distinction among charities in Turkey. Deniz Feneri is the first charitable association in Turkey to achieve ISO 9001 Quality Management Certificate due to its total accountability and transparency at every level of its organization and activities. In recognition of this achievement the Cabinet of Ministers granted Deniz Feneri status as an organization entitled to undertake works on behalf of the public welfare in 2004. Associations that receive this title are officially given positive discrimination in taxing, as well in respect to any activity they undertake in cooperation with public authorities. Following its international activities Deniz Feneri Association has also been included among the NGOs defined by the United Nations ECOSOC as being consultative NGOs.

Deniz Feneri Association maintains its organizational structure on the basis of accountability, transparency, formality, recording, productivity, effectiveness, motivation of the volunteers, and high responsibility. All human resources, donations, allocated goods, given services, and all processes related to these have been strictly recorded. How a service or any material should be bought, how the needed people should be decided, how they should be assisted...all have been clearly documented upon the basis of accountability and transparency principles. Since all processes are recorded it is possible for any donor to learn where and how his/her donation has been allocated. This becomes, indeed, possible because of the fact that all chains of the process starting from donation to the delivery are strictly recorded. Thus the entry of any aid into the system, as well as its quality control, pocketing, barcoding, storing, protection, transportation, and delivery, are all recorded transparently. This results in the association being trusted by the donors, and thus it can be an important mediator between donors and poor people.

How do you see roles of non-governmental organizations and changes taking place in these roles in Turkey? Does religion play a growing part?

I can say that religion and faith play a great role in motivating people to donate to such kinds of charitable organizations. In respect to the Deniz Feneri Association I can say that it is not thoroughly a faith-based association. However, it operates from a very humanitarian base. Just human beings, independent to their religious background, are the basic target of the association. This is the reason why it has directed its activities to both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Deniz Feneri Association, indeed, recruits a mass of religious as well as secular people under its roof to take part in its activities. I myself with a number of my colleagues, secular like me, have taken part in the activities of the association for humanitarian reasons, on a voluntary basis. But it is a matter of fact that since the association's activities are indicated in the channel 7, which is known as conservative, it has a rather religious image in the public eye.

As I mentioned above, the philosophy of Deniz Feneri is to reach to the “last poor over the earth.” This, indeed, is a target inspired perhaps by the religious understanding of Turkish Islam, which has been characterized by a Sufi way of life. The central belief in Sufi understanding is that all creatures are the expression of the single creator and they have the same substance. Therefore, “love to creature is a love to the creator himself” in this belief system. One can say that Turkish Islam, in fact, has been colored by such an understanding, and the Muslims in Turkey operate within the framework of this tenet. This belief system has motivated a mass of pious Muslims to aid others and seek ways of assistance and solidarity with them. The increasing number of faith-inspired charity organizations in Turkey over the course of last decade can be linked to this fact.

Can you tell a little more on Deniz Feneri's contribution to development as a charity organization, and how it contributes to development?

As mentioned above, some of the projects developed by the Deniz Feneri Association seek out long-breath investments and sustainable development. Serving this aim, it develops projects directly related to productive activities and the train of people who will continue to benefit from these projects. One can say that projects of this kind have twofold aims. On the one hand they target the goal of eradicating poverty, at least at the level of several families. On the other hand, they present a model to other families.

One such a project developed by Deniz Feneri is “Producing Honey,” initiated in two villages at the beginning but extended to a dozen villages later.  Within the framework of the project 70 families in 12 villages were given 2,100 beehives (30 for each family) and they were also trained how to produce honey and bees. It is estimated that the producers will learn how to produce in three years, and they will repay the cost of the beehives given by Deniz Feneri. The beehives given will then be recycled to families from other villages after three years. Thus a mode of production is intended to be disseminated through this project to many other villages.

A similar project has been aimed at the production of various fruits. Before starting a project in a rural setting, Deniz Feneri researches, as a general principle, the area in respect to its infrastructure in order to find out the best alternatives for investment. Where the land seems to be suited for cultivation and agriculture projects, Deniz Feneri develops projects along those lines. A program along these lines was started in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture under the name “Fruit Garden Project” in a number of villages. At the beginning, several fruit trees were given to 20 families in a village of Balikesir province, and then the project was extended to many villages in other provinces. This project still is part of the program of the association, and it manages the establishment of several fruit gardens in different villages every year.

Production of animal and animal-based food, like milk, cheese, and meat, is another area where Deniz Feneri tries to create projects. The “Dairy Saanen Goat Project” is an important effort  to mention in that respect. This project was started, at the beginning, in a forest village of Çanakkale province through allocating 200 dairy Saanen goats to 10 families. The association constructed modern shelters for goats, prepared infrastructure for peasants to produce milk and cheese, and trained them to sustain this project efficiently. Starting in 2007, this project, indeed, works successfully in several other villages as well. According to a survey that I conducted in this village, the project has increased the notion of “possession and solidarity” among families included in the project. Accordingly it was observed that the project had drawn the attention of people living around to take it as model. Getting positive results from the project quickly, Deniz Feneri has started this kind of programs in several other villages as well.

Deniz Feneri Association also coordinates vocational education and training in cooperation with local governments. Vocational education schemes are supported through efforts to provide relevant equipment in directing benefactors to production. One of the projects along those lines is the “Golden Bracelet Project.” Deniz Feneri provided vocational education to a number of unemployed women in 2001. After giving women a certain vocational education, the Association provided some of them with technological equipment in order to produce for market. It led also a considerable number of trained women who could then find employment.

Can you give some examples of aid and assistance works that are original to the Deniz Feneri Association? Is there any activity that you want to mention in that respect?

Deniz Feneri aims to coordinate the allocation of aid and assistance through strictly defined and well-developed projects. Some projects of this kind tackle problems in the rural areas. There are several such projects developed by the Association. One of them is “100 Village Project” through which Deniz Feneri aimed at reaching 100 of the poorest villages to give them various kinds of assistances. By 2001 it reached 300 villages and more than 10,000 families. It gave educational support to students, allocated food to the poor families, gave clothes to most of the people living in these villages, and provided health treatment services to all people living in these villages. Another project addressing the struggle with poverty in rural area is the “Water is Civilization Project" that aimed at getting villages with no water supply access to drinking water. More than 30 villages from different Turkish cities were provided access to clean drinking water through this project.

In addition to its work in villages, Deniz Feneri aims to reach poor families through several broader projects. One such effort is the “81 Province and 40,000 Families Project.” It aimed at reaching 40,000 poor families in 81 provinces of Turkey and increasing their living standards. While it aimed to reach 500 families in each province, it increased the number of families included in the project to 750 in the south and eastern regions, given excess demand from the region. Started in 2002, this project was completed by 2004, and more than 50,000 families were provided various kinds of aids and assistance.

Do you see Islamic charities playing a growing role in the poorer Muslim countries of Africa?

Absolutely yes, I do. They do it not only in Muslim but non-Muslim African countries as well. There are several organizations working in that direction in Turkey. One of them is important to mention. The IHH Humanitarian Relief Organization's basic activities are international. It really manages fundamental campaigns and projects in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia, etc. Deniz Feneri Association also coordinates various international activities. It has started international aid and investment projects since 2000. It can be said that the international activities of associations aim to serve humanitarian purposes. Three sorts of projects are seen in that respect. Deniz Feneri firstly aids and assists poor people in different countries. It secondly provides services to the victims of natural disasters. Deniz Feneri finally organizes aid and services for people living under war and conflict situations.

As an example to its activities, within the first framework mentioned above, Deniz Feneri Association worked for the elimination of poverty in Ethiopia. It allocated food, clothes, medicine, and also gave a large number of poor people access to clean drinking water. The project for eliminating poverty in Ethiopia cost about one million U.S. dollars to the association. A similar project was launched in Niger in 2005, where the UN drew attention to the human crisis and scarcity in this country. Upon the call of UN, Deniz Feneri managed an aid and assistance campaign in Turkey. Through this campaign the association gave a number of people access to clean drinking water as well as organized vocational education for a large number of people in order to learn how to produce dairy animals and agricultural products. Through this education they were taught to learn the use of modern technology in cultivation and agriculture. Several projects of this kind were realized by the association in such countries as Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Deniz Feneri Association has managed the foundation of many schools in poor areas across the Balkan countries.

Other international projects initiated by the association are directed to areas of natural disasters. One of these was started by the association in Bam city of Iran after the 2003 earthquake disaster. It managed about $1.5 million for the people living there by allocating food, medicine, clothes, tents, and blankets. A similar project was realized in Indonesia after the tsunami disaster of December 2004. Deniz Feneri constructed one school, one dormitory, and about 250 homes for the victims in Indonesia. It also organized some investment projects by constructing fishing ships and boats. The total amount of support given to Indonesia through different projects was about $2.5 million. Another disaster area was Pakistan under the effect of the 2005 earthquake disaster that caused the death of more than 70,000 people. Deniz Feneri gave  support of about $20 million to the victims through allocation of food, cloth, medicine, tents and blankets, and construction of shelters. It constructed some tent cities and trained a large group of people living in these cities to produce goods for the market.

The last class of international assistances and projects coordinated by Deniz Feneri is seen in the areas under threat of war and conflict situation. Such an area that Deniz Feneri directed its assistance was Philistine and Lebanon under the attack of Israel in 2006. In addition to aid in kind and in cash, the association built health centers there in cooperation with the Association of the World Doctors and UN-accredited associations. Deniz Feneri Association has coordinated a large number of aid networks as well as some investment projects for the victims of war and conflict in Philistine and Lebanon.

What do you see as the areas of greatest concern for faith-inspired development activities? Where is there most potential?

Faith-inspired charity organizations have a diverse area of potentiality. The most important of them, I think, is humanitarian intervention. As we see, globalization brings a wide field of opportunities for different societies and cultures to meet, to interact with each other, and to have cooperation. This character of globalization can serve global peace as well as globally felt impacts as in the case of terrorism. One shouldn't forget that the leading actors of war and crisis are mostly states, particularly those who are not limited by law and will of their people. Terrorist groups are unfortunately byproducts of the misleading policies followed by states. Charity organizations and their international cooperation can give way to a civil societal ground in the grassroots level for international peace and dialogue. The globe should go beyond being an arena of international relations between states only. It should be transformed into an arena for the transnational relations between international NGOs as well. 

In other words, the international NGOs should take initiation in determining the fate of our globe. We know that states move with an incentive of national interest, and this has natural potential for crisis and conflict. However, charity organizations moves with incentive of values like humanity, charity, assistance, aid, and solidarity, and these will hopefully serve the global peace and dialogue. Therefore I strongly hope that charity organizations realize not only national but, mostly, international projects in cooperation with their counterparts in other countries as well. Globalization seems to be a chance for this and should be supported in that direction.