Call for Tolerance at Journalists and Writers Foundation Iftar
The traditional iftar (fast-breaking meal) of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) was held at İstanbul's Grand Cevahir Hotel on Sunday, and representatives of the Abrahamic religions were among the guests.
"Children of This Land" was the slogan of the dinner, referring to the importance of solidarity and tolerance between different religions.
Starting with a concert by a musical group, the program continued with a speech by Mustafa Yeşil, the head of the GYV. Yeşil complained about the lack of dialogue between religions, despite the effects of globalization and said: "We have had great progress in our dialogue efforts. The prejudices have been replaced by understanding and knowing the ‘other' and the meaning of ‘other' is changed to the ‘children of this land'."
Georges Marovitch, the Vatican's representative in İstanbul and spokesman for the leaders of Turkey's Catholics, attended the iftar. Commenting on the influence of Ramadan, he stated that it brings the different religions closer together and extended his gratitude to Fethullah Gülen, the honorary head of the foundation, for putting great effort into establishing a dialogue platform for the various religions.
Depicting the iftar, in which representatives of different religious leaders gathered on the same table, as paramount, Turkey's chief rabbi, İshak Haleva, said understanding between people would be possible if only people listened to each other. He added, "The children of this land were raised in this land, but they will transcend the oceans and reach out to every corner of the world."
Gülen sent a message to the iftar, saying despite being far from Turkey, he felt the atmosphere of Ramadan and hoped that Turkey would overcome its problems as soon as possible.
Along with many journalists, representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic communities attended the iftar.
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