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I Dream,
Therefore I am - II
2025
NOBEL: A criterion for Nomination
"You are what you
seek."
Mevlana Celaleddin RUMI
Essay by Bircan ÜNVER
| Why do I take on the responsibility of defining criteria
for Nobel Prize nominations in Turkey through this essay? First of all, I
write these with the
instinct and hope to give a vision
to new generations and youngsters
in Turkey as well as to all Turks
who live abroad. Also, to show young
people high targets and horizons
and to help them perceive this within
their own interest areas and skills
and direct their energy toward those
directions both individually and
socially and sail toward those targets
with a collaborative and ongoing
effort in and outside of the country. |
-Translated by Figen BINGÜL
..................................................................Dedicated
to my students*
After watching the ceremony and interviews
regarding the Nobel Peace Prize
on BBC on December 10, 2005, Saturday, the day I was reading
the exam papers of my students(*) in Istanbul, Kucukyali, and also
after watching the program titled "Nobel Minds" on BBC on December
11, Sunday, I started to dream about the 2025 NOBEL Prize!
For Turkey to receive not one but many NOBEL Prizes in year
2025, it is a prerequisite to dream about, plan, and work towards this
goal. My frustration in the situation where there is a hope for help
from political statements every year regarding the nominations for NOBEL
in Turkey have combined with my trust and belief in the young people and
my students, and with Rumi's "You are what you seek" philosophy;
and these gave me the inspiration for this essay.
On the evening of December 17, 2005, again in Istanbul, while
watching the live celebration of the 732nd Anniversary of "Seb'i
Arus"** on TRT-1, Rumi's "You are what you seek" philosophy gave
me the answer and vision I
was looking for. Rumi's philosophy directs us from the pragmatic
search of the material world towards the search of the individual's,
humanity's, world's, and the universe's beyond the material. What the
definition of the "search" beyond the material world for each
of us is also the "search"
itself.
Our being determined and conscious of what we are looking
for in our journey leading to this search is the main condition of the
journey for us to be able to be ourselves. As long as we can continue this
journey throughout our lives with a high willpower, it will be possible
for us to find our "essence and identity" through our search.
We will only then have the chance of leaving the earth with that honorable essence
and identity we have reached through that journey.
To achieve and represent justly what we are searching for
does not at all depend on how much of what we are searching for has been
brought to our practical lives during this journey. What is important is
the journey of search and the distance taken during that journey, not whether
the search has been finalized or not as an end result. At the end, another
one in life will be able to take that torch and carry forward from
the last point it has been brought.
* * * * *
At this point, I will try to define my search one more time
and determine a new target by describing my reasons and criteria for nomination
for the 2025 NOBEL Prize:
First, my search:
1. a) To make
the Light Millennium (http://www.lightmillennium.org)
active in full capacity, a strong voice for the majority;
b) To make publications effective at the global level as
an alternative media, without any commercials, or where commercials
or politics do not buy ideas;
c) To make it an alternative media, not limited with the
existing world media values that are now valid (which represent less
than 5% of the world population), but representing needs, search,
and dreams as a common voice of the 95% of humanity with its all dimensions,
d) To continue to emerge, build-up, and eventually provide
an effective alternative power and balance globally against
all international political, commercial or economic sanctions
taken against the big earth family or being threatful to human
health, education, development, and the future.
2) To increase the number of contributors/participants for
the contents of the Light Millennium above 10 thousands, even 100 thousands,
in 2025; to be published regularly on a monthly basis; and the number
of visitors/readers to reach above 30 million per month globally
and to systematize this.
3) To be published 2 or 4 times at least in 5 languages and
with an original content in each language with open participations
from ways of life in each language.
4) To activate the "Light Millennium Global Diversity
Home & School Project" and make it active in more than one continent.
"Light Millennium Global Diversity Home & School" Concept: ISTANBUL
DIARY: A Dream of 5 Billion Dollars... ( - Definition of The Light Millennium
- Global Diversity School Project)
5. a) To promote
and develop free speech and idea production
in every level of life, parallel to every country's original cultural
structure and dynamics, including business, social, gender, age and traditional
aspects; and to make the idea diversity and richness distributed and
shared globally.
b) To make the Light Millennium a leader in developing and
locating the "freedom of speech," not only limited to intellectuals,
artists, media members, but throughout earth societies, equally within
all existing social levels.
Returning to Rumi's statement, especially since the Light
Millennium's introduction in the Web in August 1999 <http://www.lightmillennium.org/intro99fol/index2.html>,
the instinct, passion, and desire to bring these ideas to life have defined
my purpose and search for existence in this world. In 2025, if I am
able to realize, even if not the whole, but the most part of these criteria
that I have defined since 1999 and been consistently developing, then
I, at this point, nominate myself, together with the Light Millennium
organization, for the 2025 NOBEL Prize!!!
The nomination course may proceed differently technically.
In this essay, I share with you that 2025 Nobel Prize is one of the points
to be reached at and the first stop of the journey of a dream and a search
that will take nearly 20 years.
In the degree of reaching success in terms of bringing the
requirements and criteria to life within the next 20 years, I can assume
that I will be nominated for and receive the 2025 Nobel Prize, as in Rumi's
vision.
While defining this search, let's say that I have brought
all the foreseen criteria or most of them to life, but still I, or the Light
Millennium, haven't been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Prize. Then, this
will not be that important! Because in that case, it will be the greatest
prize by itself to know that I have realized what Rumi had foreseen.
* * * * *
In this essay, I'd also like to touch upon another criterion.
In Turkey, the nominations for Nobel have always been associated with
a matter of politics and sensation for some reason. The nomination for
Nobel until now has come to the agenda either through some given interviews
or articles in particular to a foreign press, and published abroad, or not
at all.
Maybe, what has moved me to write this essay is the disturbance
I have felt from this along years. I now protest through this essay
that the way to Nobel nomination goes through political and speculative
maneuvers, or at least it has been interpreted and presented so in Turkey.
[Eventually, and as most of you know, in October of this year, Orhan Pamuk
has won the NOBEL 2006 Literary Award! After all, it seems that all those
efforts embedded with international political manipulations have
worked out for him. However, I hope that this won't be a model for the future
generations of Turkey or anywhere else in the world.]
Why do I take on the responsibility of defining criteria
for Nobel Prize nominations in Turkey through this essay? First of all, I
write these with the instinct and hope to give a vision to new generations
and youngsters in Turkey as well as to all Turks who live abroad. Also,
to show young people high targets and horizons and to help them perceive
this within their own interest areas and skills and direct their energy
toward those directions both individually and socially and sail toward
those targets with a collaborative and ongoing effort in and outside of
the country.
Starting from this point, to inspire our schooling children
and youngsters of more than 20 million (and I would like to remind that
this number by itself is more than the whole population of many countries!)
towards international targets like Nobel, Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy,
Emmy, is not a utopia. It is a necessity and one of the common ideals and
purposes of a modern and developing Turkey. It is necessary to create channels,
mainly by all educational institutes, various media branches, in
collaboration with the major corporations in Turkey and those abroad who
have already established an international business or business interest
in Turkey, in order to help our youngsters look beyond a consumption-based
culture and narrow perspectives, develop their own skills and interest
areas and direct themselves to inventions in the creative, scientific,
technological, and space science, and other special areas
which require a long term education, investment and dedication. And when
we are able to present the main requirements for this, even if not in every
school, but in every city and town around the country, and by doing so,
when we are able to seed and grow these ideas within the next 20-40 years,
and when those youngsters develop, work, produce and mature with those
goals, then we will be able to present and leave behind us a bright Turkey
beyond dreams as a reward to the future generations as well as to
the world.
And when that time comes, we will have many nominees and
recipients for a Nobel and other great international prizes in every area.
Provided that we dream and encourage new generations in this
direction and place the foundation stones around the country and open the
roads and horizons. The rest will certainly follow by itself.
* * * * *
When these foresights are realized, no one in Turkey will
condescend to be nominated for Nobel or such prizes with scandalous statements.
Especially the TV and newspapers will not include Turkey in their news
with hurtful expressions both within and outside of Turkey. Moreover,
in those interviews, nothing said is new or different or hasn't contributed
anything to humanity and the world, yet! And they do not
serve any purpose other than reinforcing the source of those ideas which people,
especially the Turks living abroad, keep hearing as chronic pattern
of bombardments, and are very exhausted of!
At the same time, in my opinion, especially regarding the
Turkish-Armenian problem (of which I consider the beginning period of is 1900-1915!),
the Ottomans, as much as Armenians, have been manipulated and
victimized by the imperialist powers from a global imperialist perspective!
Along with our pride in the Republic's independency and modern
Turkey, the Ottoman Empire has lost its 5 million square meters of land
during 1915-1923. Its total population and countries it governed,
and the richness, the outcome of its having been weakened by wars
and manipulations of imperialist powers of that time, and its
having been dissolved by Armenians, regardless of their lives having
been used for that goal, and other ethnic groups from within are still
not completely brought to light, or the truth or information about this
is still not explained to the world publicly. But it is very badly needed
to bring out this information with all its dimensions for developing partnerships
between the two neighboring countries as well as making an
important progress for the "Global Peace" purpose.
* * * * *
If we return to the dream of receiving the 2025 Nobel or
other international prestigious prizes on behalf of Turkey or Turkish
native people who live abroad, just think about this: If we determine
the potential and capacity of our young people by scanning city
by city, town by town, even village by village, in order to educate them
toward 2025 and beyond… And due to those determinations, if we prepare
the inspiring, encouraging conditions for them, and let the work begin in
this direction, then the first steps will be taken toward this goal.
By creating economically supporting environment, by giving
scholarships, or by establishing a foundation for the children who have
these skills and capacity, the first healthy foundations will be built. And
this will at the same time be a very important part of the investment
model for the humanity and future.
We should never doubt that the growing values will honor
Turkey by receiving the most prestigious prizes in the areas of science,
arts, culture, sociology, and technology and space around the world.
This will also act as a bridge to bring bright and well-trained Turkish
people in the powerful decision-making positions in the international
arena and will serve our country to be represented effectively.
* * * * *
Within this content and understanding, as a result of an
investment for future, it will be possible for us to grow new generations
whose world of dreams is not emptied, who are not mechanized, and who own
main humane values. And bringing this to life will be a main channel
to represent our own cultural values and richness on the world stage regardless
of where we live.
As a result, the prerequisite for us to be a leader country
on earth in terms of human source quality, production, invention capacity
and creativity, is to canalize the planning and investment sources
to this understanding within the next 20-40 years. If this is applied
in a decisive manner, our country will have international success
within every field. Only then, the Turkish image will be able to have
the place and value it deserves.
Then, who is afraid of darkness? Who is afraid of Armenian
allegations? Who is afraid of those who want to change the course of such
prizes with political and scandalous manipulations?
*I have dedicated this essay to all my students who dream
about 30 years later, enrolled in Anadolu Bil Professional School (Bakirkoy,
Istanbul), in Fall 2005, "Scenario and Narration Writing"
course at the Radio and Television Department.
** Seb'i Arus: Departing date of Mevlana Celaleddin
Rumi (1207 - 1273), defined as "The Wedding Night - Embracing with God"
by RUMI himself prior to His Departure. For this reason, every year of December
17, is celebrated as the "Seb'i Arus" day in Turkey.
For more information on prior and 2006 Nobel Prizes, please
visit:
http://www.nobelprize.org
Note:
1) The very first draft of this essay
was written in Turkish in February 2006,
and was e-distributed in May 2006 to some
Yahoogroups and e-addresses,
and its final version was published in
July, in the Summer-2006, #12th
issue of ISIKBINYILI.ORG in Turkish. English
version of the essay is updated by the
author on December 6, 2006.
2) The
latest version of above essay was e-distrubuted
over the Internet by: Figen Bingul, General
Secretary of the Light Millennium, and
Bircan Unver, Date: Between December 7-9,
2006.
Photo by: Rohan DeSilva, taken on December
16, 2006 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
"YOU ARE THE SOUL OF THIS GLOBAL
PLATFORM. & WE ARE FOR THE GREATNESS IN HUMANITY."
http://www.lightmillennium.org - http://www.isikbinyili.org
- http://www.turkishgreeksynergy.net
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