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This is a new part of APC’s Building a Free Internet of the Future series, in which we publish a monthly interview with the beneficiaries of the NGI Zero (NGI0) grant. Funded by the European Commission, NGI0 supports free software, open data, open hardware and open standards projects. It provides both financial and practical support in a myriad of ways, including mentoring, testing, security tests, accessibility, dissemination and more.
This time, we are talking with one of the NGI0 regional representatives: Alper Atmaca, from Turkey, a free-software activist, radio amateur, long-time search and rescue (SAR) volunteer and Alpinist. As explained by the NLnet Foundation, the representatives have a dual role: to engage with local communities and invite them to participate in the NGI Zero programmes, and as a promoter of the open technological building blocks within the existing NGI Zero portfolio.
In this interview, Alper shares his views on the fragmentation of the free software movement, talks about the focus of his work as a regional representative, and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
You are a member of the Free Software Association of Turkey (Özgür Yazılım Derneği) and have become the NGI0 regional representative in the country. What is the free libre and open source technology scene like in Turkey? And what about the communities that make it up?
As is always the case with Turkey, the easy answer is that it is complicated. Turkey has a relatively old and rooted free software community and movement. This is mostly due to several visionary people who had the fortune of being on the frontline of computer technology at the time. Today, the Turkish free software community is still riding that wave.
Yet several events, local and international, have fractured the movement. While these observations are purely anecdotal, they reflect what most people experience worldwide. First and foremost there is the nationalistic approach to free software as a means to attain sovereignty. This part of the free software community sadly makes up a large part of it. Free software is mostly free of charge. When combined with the ease of achieving quick success through global collaboration, without ever needing to give credit, it becomes a prime choice for those supported by national resources. Of course, none of these issues are addressed by some proponents of sovereignty, who instead talk about security and efficiency.
The open-source side in Turkey is just how it is everywhere else. They are well-funded, either by the state or by corporations, to boost their stance on the issue. The sterile, pragmatic and apparently non-political stance of open source finds an audience easily in Turkey but open-source spheres are not a coherent group or community. There are loose groups who call themselves an open-source community; yet their lack of interest in organising means they are far from being a single group of people around an idea.
Then there is the core of the free software movement that holds values and freedom above all. This group stems from the old free software community. They are people who meet each other in events organised by the Linux Users Association. While many work in computer-related jobs, some share the same hacker spirit yet do not participate in professional "computer touching". The foundation holding this community together is mostly the political side of the free software movement, which sadly, though consistent and persistent, is also an outcast. The deliberate distance put between institutional and corporate mandates on how technology needs to be designed, and action to fight them, does not draw much support from the authorities. Yet the free software community stays somewhat political and adherent to the movement, regardless of the extent of their involvement – whether running a hackerspace in one of the most expensive metropolitan cities in the world, or organising conferences without accepting funding of surveillance-capital money.
If the political atmosphere of Turkey changes in the near future, the free software movement can move faster and as the current climate greatly hinders organising. Time will tell.
How do you envision carrying out your role as NGI0 regional representative? And what have you done so far?
NGI0 is an amazing idea and an opportunity. I was aware of it before but never realised how many projects that we rely on personally or communally is supported and made possible to large extent by NLnet funds. That realisation actually shaped what I try to aim for in my role as a representative.
I set my programme for NGI0 locally in two categories. First is supporting already established yet stagnant-free, software-centred groups such as OpenStreetMap (OSM), Linux users community, and digital security. This helps provide them with space and reasons to get together and invite new people to the group. This not only vitalises the groups but also allows me to introduce them to the possibilities of NLnet and NGI0 in general. We now have bimonthly OpenStreetMap (OSM) meetups, regular hackathons and related workshops that I can support, such as navigation and mapping workshops for outdoor sports, etc.
Secondly, I try to participate and/or take responsibilities in organisations and events related to free software. This is getting rarer after COVID and the state of Turkey’s economy. I participated in many conferences and workshops on various computer-related topics, organising fun local area network (LAN) parties and crypto-parties to reach out to more politically aware people. A highlight was reviving, with a few college friends this spring, a major conference on free software, which had been dormant for five years. We had three simultaneous stages for two days where over 2,000 people participated both online and offline. I plan to support this next year also to create a platform for NLnet and NGI0.
Still, I can find only three projects eligible for funds and all of them are in various stages of processing. One of them is crucial, I think, and if it succeeds, it would be the pinnacle of time as the representative.
Turkey presents a unique challenge for connecting NGI0 goals with people, the main one being how fractured the free software community is, as I explained earlier. This fragmentation inhibits collaboration. I have failed so far to rope in universities and all my official and side channels of reaching clubs and students through the universities have failed. This is a direct result of state of the universities in current circumstances. Other official institutions also are not an exception, sadly.
In 2020, you gave a joint performance for a conference on “Free Software for Minorities in Turkey in Their Own Languages". What was the motivation behind that conference? And what is the current state of this very important language case?
Frankly, I am surprised to be reminded of it after all these years. Like so many stories, it has personal roots. My co-speaker, Özcan, was studying with a professor on Indigenous languages of the east Black Sea coast such as Lazuri, only to realise that they have only minor literature and were in danger of dying. He come up with the idea of translating GNU/Linux into those languages with the help of the remaining scholars. This was a remarkably fit case for free software since submitting translation for other proprietary software is discouragingly hard. .
After that conference, we continued with our work. There wasn't much to do besides getting the scholars and native speakers and providing them with technical tools and assistance to get it done. While associations and people we were in contact expressed their interest in the project, they all sought to know about its viability in relation to its funding. Most NGO work in Turkey is initiated or supported by external funds. When we explained that there were no funds attached to the project but only our will, technical knowledge and enthusiasm for a cause, no further progress was possible. This pattern has haunted our communities long enough that we are not surprised anymore.
Where and how can people follow your updates as an NGI0 regional representative?
Anybody interested in what’s being done by us can follow NGI0 Turkey Mastodon account at @NGIZero_Turkey@social.ngi.eu. Also most major events are done in cooperation with Özgür Yazılım Derneği, which can be reached through several sources listed on oyd.org.tr. For any questions, I am always reachable by email listed by NGI0.
Xavier Coadic is a consultant for the NGI0 consortium, and a free/libre open source software activist with 15 years of experience in free open source cultures and communities (software, data hardware, wetware, policy makers and political groups, research and development).