Who We Are

FIN POLAR Kultturikeskus Ry is a civil society organization registered in Helsinki in 2005,
with a registration number of 190.987. It is an organization that is run by People from migrant
backgrounds living in Finland and who have made Finland a new home. It consists of board
members and the heads of the working groups. By working groups, we mean a team’s
specializing in only one subject that they are good at or they want to be good at. These
groups are Academic Network, Culture & Art, Education & Consulting, Project Development,
SKY, Social Media, Teachers, Together and WeCode. To know more about each working
group from their own words, please see here.

Our Aim

Organizational dimension

Fin Polar aims to contribute to the immigrant profiles and enhance the quicker and better
understanding of one another as well as the understanding of the society we are surrounded
with. Contribute to immigrant profiles not because ‘immigrants need to catch up’ with the
tendencies and practicalities in the Finnish society, but we believe that everyone needs
proper support and orientation when arrives at a new place. It involves all men, women, and
youngsters. As responsible board members and other volunteers of the organization, we
care and aim at each member's well-being and growth in Finland. These include many
activities starting from sports, hobbies, language courses, psychological post-forced
migration counseling to professional growth and career coaching. We do this by organizing
weekly, monthly, and yearly gatherings, camps, seminars, pieces of training, guest lectures,
and celebrations to all, women, men and children. With various working groups starting from
‘academic networking’ to the ‘art and culture’, we activate and generate use for and from
working group members to the broader stakeholders.

Societal dimension

It is assumed that the socio-cultural environment of Finland, its climate, people, way of life
might differ from where we originally come from. Our general perspective on humans, the
world and all-around may differ. Our perception of spirituality and happiness might be
different. The problems that we face may not be common with the problems that many other
ethnicities living in Finland face. Perhaps, there is not much difference in reality and all of our
concerns are similar – we do not know. Therefore, through the Fin Polar and many working
groups specializing in different aspects, our societal aim is to present ourselves in a right –
understandable way and to get to know and understand the Finnish society in return. Call it
integration, call it social cohesion, and call it peaceful coexistence. We aim to learn different
ways of looking at life, to share what we have in our tongue and to work for the future in
cooperation and trust.

Resources

FIN POLAR, as any other organization needs human and financial resources to run
successfully. Organizations' main expectation and goal to secure its finances is from the
public and private funds that support civil projects. Therefore, currently, the project team
applies to as many as possible funding calls. Since this type of fundings above is not always
guaranteed, we also encourage FIN POLAR members, beneficiaries, and any other
acceptable, non-political private donors to support our activities by their generous donations
for one time, monthly or annually.
FIN POLAR’s human resources are the main backbones, that consist of young and older,
professional and intern, women and men, citizens and residents that have come from
various countries to Finland to make a new home. Their honest, generous, volunteer
participation and contribution enables the organization to exist.

Our Philosophy

As every human being has a certain belief and philosophy in life, FIN POLAR activists have
their own beliefs different from one another. Nevertheless, what inspires us all is the
teachings and examples of Fethullah Gulen, who advocates for education, a dialog for
peaceful coexistence and meeting the needs of the poor. Moreover, our organization is not
limited to these ideas. We are open to many other ideas that will make our world a better
place. That is why we work to make our activities, programs, and contents as diverse as
possible, as inclusive as possible.

Changes

Before 2020, the association was called as Finland Dialog Ry. With a new decade, new
board members and new ideas, the name and the statue were developed further to meet the
changing needs.

Members of the Board 2021

• Firat Özmen                            ( Chairman )                   info@finpolar.fi
• Gazi Yüksel                            ( Member of the board )
• Levent Arda                            ( Member of the board )
• ( Secretary )                            finpolar@finpolar.fi
• Fatih Gulusen                        Finpolar Jyväskylä Representation
• Abdullah Acat                        Finpolar Tampere Representation
• Serkan Çetintaş                     Finpolar Turku Representation
• Seyfi Gör                                Finpolar Oulu Representation