Mutafian: We Follow the Path Opened by Gülen
The Journalists and Writers Foundation's traditional Ramadan dinner last evening at the Hilton Hotel constituted a veritable mosaic of Turkey.
Spiritual leaders, journalists, writers, academics, artists, businessmen, and civil society representatives gathered for the 300-person dinner to convey messages of peace and dialogue.
Speaking at the dinner, Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafian said: "People who shared the same religion could not get together in this country until recent times, now people from different religions come together at the same dinner."
He noted that this was an important development for Turkey, and added: "The person to thank for this is Fethullah Gülen and the foundation of which he is the honorary president. We followed the path opened by him."
Syrian Bishop Yesuf Cetin also emphasized Gülen's contributions to the three celestial religions. He said: "In Turkey, no one dared to invite Christian and Jews to a Ramadan dinner, but now, they cannot have enough of us."
In his speech, Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos said that for peace and tranquillity in Turkey, everyone should thank Allah and he wished that Turkey would continue its determination to pursue democratisation and a place in the European Union.
On behalf of the Jewish community, Rav Ytzak Haleva underlined that the picture at the dinner was the hope of Allah. 2003-10-28 00:00:00
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