Turkish Cooperation

My congratulations to Katya Khaletskaya, who is on the short-list of Procter and Gamble Success Story Competition! Although I haven't managed to get there I'm very glad that I decided to take part in it. It made me to sum up the experience I got in AIESEC and assess my way of presenting information.

“I want you to have the opportunity that I didn’t have last year”. These words started the most incredible experience in my life – Turkish Cooperation, an eXchange project in AIESEC Moscow. Nastya, the former project coordinator asked me to take her role shortly after I had joined the organization. Then, being a freshman, I could not imagine that I would be able to unite a group of strange people, achieve outstanding results in AIESEC and get unforgettable cultural experience.

At first it was so difficult. I inherited from Nastya a group of people who were going to Turkey for internships. They were supposed to get volunteer experience first, but it had not been reported to them properly. They did not share AIESEC values and were reluctant to work in the project. So, my aim was to understand their aspirations and find the way to unite us. Of course, we all loved Turkish culture, but there was no trust among us. I spent two months trying to appoint team meetings and control calls to companies. However, it led to nothing before I realized that trust was the remedy for passivity. I decided to meet every member of the team to talk about his or her interests and ambitions. I shared my vision on the project with them and delegated the responsibility for our success. As a result, we lost 4 members, but we managed to unite in a real team of 4 striking personalities: Tamila, Katya, Luba and me.

Soon Olesya, the first intern within our project arrived from Ukraine. She motivated us a lot and signaled a new stage in the development of our project. At the same time, we were excited about the arrival of Ercan and Bilal, two AIESEC members from Turkey who would join our team. Katya and Luba were preparing welcome packages; Tamila was looking for accommodation; I was planning their professional activities. When they came, our life became crazy. We organized fancy welcome parties, we did not sleep nights to discuss marketing strategies, we had several meetings a day with general managers of Turkish companies, and we went for sightseeing all over Moscow. In other words, we not only team members, but real friends.

From top left: Ercan, Katya, Alex (author), Olesya, Bilal, Tamila

The experience with Olesya, Ercan and Bilal lasted for about a month. Then Tamila went to Turkey for an internship with a private school. At that time we learned that the outcome of our work was 8 interns raised in a leading Turkish company. We were so happy, but concerned about the lack of motivated people to take on this challenge, so that Lesha and Masha, new members of AIESEC joined Turkish Cooperation Project. In half a year Antje, a German intern came to be followed by Peter from Austria, Jeff from USA, Krishna from India, Ozgur, Ulvi, Tugrul, and Orcun from Turkey. We organized an intensive cultural program for those who wanted to enjoy Moscow. There was fun, but I look back at this time as a real life school. Our team had no right for faults, as we were responsible for so many people expecting to get life-changing experience in Moscow. Now I feel myself much more mature, as I have overcome all the problems and understood the different mentalities.

From left: Peter, Tugrul, Tati, Antje, Jeff, Ozgur

Life is interesting. In 3 months after the interns came, Katya and I turned out to be in Istanbul, Turkey. Ercan, a former member of our team arranged internships for us and invited to share a flat with him. Moreover, Bilal, who is originally from Ankara, was also in Istanbul for a summer internship. They helped us as much as we helped them in Moscow. However, Katya and I preferred to interact more with colleagues at work to check our interpersonal skills and understand Turkish culture better. As a result, Feride, Hakan, Asli, Sonmez, Behiye, Bilal and Yilmaz from Fiba Factoring became my new friends for life. They used every chance to make my internship the best in all aspects. I am so grateful to them for taking me to Formula 1, teaching Turkish, going to bars, introducing to Turkish cuisine, riding horses in the mountains and many other things. Turkey has made me more calm and people-oriented, so now it is hard to see grim Moscow faces in the metro.

From top left: Asli, Feride, Hakan, Behiye, Alex (author)

Today my team members and friends are in Istanbul, Simferopol, Kansas, Moscow, Caracas, Jaipur, Ankara, but we are all together. Our team doubled the number of AIESEC Interns in Moscow. However, we are proud of the impact we have provided in the society. A group of volunteers has managed to provide 14 people with international experience, 5 companies with agents of positive change and 6 people with the potential to take leadership positions. Masha, our new member has just stared her own project about tolerance to develop her own Cooperation.

Alexander Annaev, 20 December 2006