FreedomTeam Interview: Belma Bağdat In Focus

Meet our Freedom Team colleague from Istanbul, Mrs Belma Bağdat, Programme Director of the Project Office of FNF Turkey. Belma has worked for freedom in the Foundation for 14 years now. She is a true ambassador of freedom. 

1. Please share a few words about yourself? 

I studied International Relations at the Faculty of Economics at Istanbul University. When I graduated, there was an economic crisis in Turkey. There weren’t enough job opportunities. So I had to start my career in a totally different direction - a product management position in a well-known Turkish private company. I was quite successful and liked the position, but disliked the mentality there and its unprofessional management. I was born in Germany and grew up with a German mentality. After nine months’ experience there, I made a very risky decision and promised myself - whatever it costs – to just work for a foreign company. So, I’ve sent my résumé to the General Consulate of Germany. This strict decision changed my life and opened a door to a world where I’ve been happy for the last 14 years. When the director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation contacted me via the Consulate, my career in the civil society world started.

2. How would you describe yourself in three words?

These kind of personal questions are not easy for me to answer. That’s why I’ve asked my friends and gotten their opinion - they’ve tried to describe me in three words. It was an interesting experience for me. I would suggest to everyone who reads this interview to experience this feeling by asking their close friends or colleagues about themselves. I got very interesting answers which I would never have thought of. After this long introduction here come the results: Humanist, realistic, energetic, solution-oriented... 

3. Tell us more about how your career in FNF has evolved so far?

I joined the Turkey Project of the Foundation in Istanbul as “Project Assistant” in 2002. After two years, I got the “Project Coordinator” position. To be honest, there isn’t a huge difference between these two positions. I was responsible for our partners’ projects and for our international cooperation/activities. Over the course of time, I got more responsibilities. For more than 10 years, I was the only one working on the designing, planning and implementation part of most of our activities. In 2010, my position changed to “Program Director”. Here, I have to mention Jörg Dehnert, who was for six years my director and now he is directing the FNF office in Argentina. He contributed a lot to my personal development. He always motivated me to step forward, believed and trusted in my capacity and revealed it. So I’d like to take this chance to thank him again for encouraging me to improve myself.

4. What is most interesting and challenging about your career in FNF? 

I have a very active and lively job. There is no way to get bored or at least, I feel like that. Each year, you get project proposals from partners on different topics with different objectives which all contribute to the promotion of liberal values. Each year is a new start for me. One year, for example, you aim to raise awareness about the correlation between free trade and peace and you travel to cities in Turkey, giving trainings to young people and observing their enlightenment from their eyes. Another year, you create a big exhibition on human rights which covers LGBTI rights, freedom of expression, minority rights, refugee rights, etc. and try to strengthen the message that you want to convey to the public by using panel discussions. I just gave you two examples to show you the variety of topics and methods used, but the number of activities we implement per year is around 100. With the support of your partners, you can touch upon the defects of your society or your region in a political sense and try to contribute to solving problems by offering liberal solutions. How far these solutions are taken into consideration or implemented is, in a way, not that important. If you are sensitive to what is happening in the world you live in, you satisfy yourself by saying “At least, I am doing something”. We, as FNF, try to help our partners with our support (it might be financial support or consultancy) to realize and achieve their aims and to actively take part in their society.

5. What is your biggest achievement in FNF so far? What you are most proud of? 

14 years is a long term to go through and think about what you have achieved so far and what didn’t go well. Maybe this question could be asked of my directors or partners. I can’t answer this question but I can say what I’m proud of lately. After 2013, we have enlarged the number of staff in the office. This reduced my work load and gave me an opportunity to concentrate on trainings as a moderator. I started to give capacity-building trainings to our partners. The positive feedbacks I get from them nowadays motivates me a lot. I am glad and proud that I can contribute to the organizational improvement of our partners. This is the result of the 14 years’ experience I benefitted from at FNF and all the skills trainings provided by the Foundation to its staff.

6. Given your background so far, what and how would you contribute to the mission of FNF and the pursuit of Freedom? 

Turkey is going through a very difficult and dangerous period mostly in the sense of individual rights. It’s time for us, time for liberal minded people and for freedom fighters to really stand up for their rights. I’ll never give up encouraging our partners to struggle for their freedom.

7. Why is the promotion of Freedom important to you? 

The photo session for this interview was done at Gezi Park in Istanbul. I see the “Gezi period”as a protest for freedom, as a fight for individual rights, a noble stance against interference in individuals’ daily life, a struggle to protect the future of freedom, the future of individual freedom. Freedom is my life motto! Everyone has the right to make decisions about their own life which should not be limited unless it crosses the border of others’ rights. No one in this world has the power to decide on behalf of me how I should dress, how I should think, how I should behave or how I should speak. 

That’s why, the “F” of FNF definitely means “Freedom” for me. That’s why, I’m proud of being part of the FNF team. We, as FNF staff, are the ambassadors of freedom.

Follow the work of FNF Turkey Project office on their website and Facebook Page. 

You can meet the other members of the Freedom Team in East and Southeast Europe, featured in this interview series, here: