Monday, April 2, 2007

ONUR BURÇAK BELLİ
ISTANBUL-TURKISH DAILY NEWS

The Inter-Religious and Intercultural Dialogue in Youth Work Symposium ended on Saturday. In these four days young people from different backgrounds brought various topics such as Religion and Human Rights, Racism and Discrimination, Islamophobia, and Is Europe ready for multiculturalism? into group discussions. In the end, after heated debates on issues the decision to keep working together in cooperation against Islamophobia, racism and discrimination through Istanbul Youth Process for Intercultural and Inter-religious dialogue starting from 2008. The group will meet in Baku to discuss a detailed road map for the ongoing works. One workshop was on initiating a youth work for The Alliance of Civilizations, which Secretary General of The Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation (ICYF-DC) Elshad Iskandarov and senior advisor to the Alliance of Civilizations, Nadia Romani chaired. The initiative was started by the ICYF-DC in partnership with the U.N., COE, ISESCO and Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The proposal of launching the Youth for Alliance of Civilizations was also accepted. Another discussion was on the media's role on crisis and an article covered in this issue. This is to ask media members for responsible journalism and to restrain themselves from inflaming hate crimes. “The role of the media is really important for us and we really need their co-operation in solving conflicts,” underlined Iskandarov. The Istanbul Youth Declaration, The Youth for Alliance of Civilizations and the Istanbul Youth Process for Intercultural, Inter-religious Dialogue are the three main outcomes of the symposium as road maps of resolutions.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=69699