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| OUR STORY |
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Mediterranean Resources Network (Mernet) was founded in London in July 2001 by journalist and linguist Umit Ozturk (Chairman), photographer and graphic designer Seher Ugur (Board Member), and playwright and medical doctor Linda Wilkinson (Secretary General & Board Member). Mernet was registered as a not-for-profit organisation.
After the first couple of years of intensive advice and tactical support work for the community and voluntary sector organisations in the Mediterranean region, the organisation concentrated on providing training links for the members of the Mediterranean community in Greater London area. Throughout the said period, Mernet sent participants to a number of international conferences, seminars and training courses. Mernet co-founder Umit Ozturk delivered talks and training in several Mediterranean countries including Greece, Spain and Italy.
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Linda's increasing workload at the UK section of the renowned human rights organisation Amnesty International (Linda was the chairwoman from 2001 to 2007) made it impossible for her to continue to serve as the Secretary General and she was replaced by Gabrielle Delbarre in 2004. Gabrielle was later replaced by Seher Ugur in late 2005. Seher continues to serve as the Secretary General. |
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| Linda Wilkinson |
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Linda resigned from the Board in November 2007 and she became a member of Mernet's International Board of Patrons.
Following the decision by the co-founders to move from London to Brighton in summer 2006, the archives of the organisation were moved to Brighton, too. The organisation did not have any offices in Brighton and we used only the postal address facilities at Brighton's unique venue |
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Gabrielle Delbarre & Seher Ugur |
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| Community Base - which is home to over 30 community groups. Mernet made a successful application in August 2007 and became a tenant organisation at the Community Base where it is based ever since. |
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| Management Committee: |
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Contacts in Specialist Teams: |
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Programmes Coordination Team
John Burns (Coordinator)
Projects Team
Paul Gregory (Coordinator)
Press & PR Team
Lorena Martinez Jimenez
Legal Research Team
M. F. (Kim) Contreras (Coordinator)
International Communications Team
Estelle Heimann
Administrative Team
Solera Russell (Coordinator)
IT Support Team
Matt Armstrong (Coordinator)
M. Cektar Soylu (Assistant)
Event Management Team
Suzanna Collis (Coordinator)
Derek Fleischer (Assistant)
International Correspondents
Letizia Fontanesi (Rome, Italy)
Lucie Martin (Brussels, Belgium)
Tchansia Kone (Orleans, France)
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Umit Ozturk (Chairman, Board Member)
Seher Ugur (Secretary General, Board Member)
Hana'a Elia (Board Member) |
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| International Board of Patrons |
International Board of Advisors |
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Prof Kevin Boyle
Prof Noam Chomsky
Julie Christie
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Prof Maria Cristina-Ercolessi
Moris Farhi MBE
Prof Ivor Gaber
Hala Jaber
Caroline Lucas MEP
Gregory Palast
Danny Schechter
Mark Thomas
John Vidal
Linda Wilkinson |
Salman Abbas (Lebanon)
Martin Bright (UK)
Mateja Demsic (Slovenia)
Nicolas Faye (France)
Rohan Jayasekera (UK)
Sunder Katwala (UK)
Sarah Lewis (UK)
Jake Lynch (UK/AU)
David McDowall (UK)
Annabel McGoldrick (UK/AU)
Dr Paul Pace (Malta)
Miriam Pipolo (Italy)
Spiros Psychas (Greece)
Zafer T. Mohammad (Palestine)
Gary Younge (UK/US) |
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We believe that peoples of the Mediterranean region deserve to unconditionally exercise the right of living in a just, tolerant and sustainable environment. This belief is the main reason why the organisation was founded.
Our mission statement is as follows:
Mediterranean Resources Network (Mernet) strives to be a leading news, information, advice, training and mentoring centre for the peoples and organisations of the Mediterranean region.
Mediterranean Resources Network (Mernet) will continue to protect its identity as a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, independent, non-aligned, impartial, and unbiased organisation. The organisation solely provides the opportunity of a platform for debate on the issues under the light of the news and information compiled. Mernet does not take sides on any of its fields of activity, since it believes that the judgement and decision-making must fall upon the peoples of the Mediterranean region.
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Mernet expanded its aims and objectives in October 2009. The amended version, as approved by the Management Committee and added into Mernet's Memorandum of Association, is as follows:
3.1 To relieve the needs of the community of people from the Mediterranean (being
geographic territories which have a coastal border to the Mediterranean sea and neighbouring territories) in Brighton and Hove by the provision of advice and assistance and the advancement of education and training of those in the community who are in need thereof so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within the wider community;
3.2 To promote equality and diversity for the public benefit by promoting activities
to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds; 3.3 To advance education for the public benefit in the arts, culture, language,
literature, history , geography and politics of the countries of the Mediterranean (being geographic territories which have a coastal border to the Mediterranean sea and
neighbouring territories) and to carry out research for the public benefit into these topics and publish the useful results thereof. |
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Albanian Arabic Bulgarian Croatian French Italian Greek Hebrew Kurdish Macedonian Spanish Serbian Slovenian Portuguese Romanian Turkish |
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| "I have dual citizenship. I lost my passport in summer ad applied to Irish Consulate in London. I experienced difficulty and waited for days. I got in touch with Mernet. They called the passport offices in Dublin and Cork for me. They also helped me with my queries at the Turkish Consulate in London. Mernet's advisor corrected the inaccurate advice and requirements by the Irish Consulate in London and a month-long waiting ended in a week. I am grateful for Mernet's fast, efficient and caring attitude." Mr T.S. - Brighton |
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| "Our car broke down. My husband and I bought some spare parts from a place in Liverpool, but they turned out to be wrong ones. We returned the goods but waited for six months for a refund. We visited Mernet office. Mernet's advisor contacted the dealer and the trading standards office of Liverpool Council on our behalf, because our English is not good. We had our money back in less than a week. Mernet ended our six months of suffering." Mrs E.A. - Brighton |
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The most recent issue of Mernet News, the monthly newsletter of Mernet, is out now! Please click below to download the pdf version. |
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| The most recent annual Activity Report of Mernet is available now! Please click below to download the pdf version. |
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| Download here... |
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