Only the people of the land can create a spring, GYV President Yeşil says
Date posted: July 19, 2013
Mustafa Yeşil, the chairman of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), said that if there is going to be a springtime and a fresh beginning soon in the region, it will only be accomplished at the hands of the people of this land, while speaking at an iftar dinner — a special meal held to observe breaking the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — hosted in the southeastern province of Van for journalists and other guests by the East Anatolian Civil Society Association (DASİDER) under the theme of “living together and tolerance.”
Yeşil said, “We believe that the Alevis, Kurds and Circassians of these lands belong with us. The notion of ‘we’ is sufficient to describe all of us. It is always possible to grow together and to share every opportunity, based on justice and human rights.”
Many journalists, deputies, provincial district governors, representatives of non-governmental organizations, opinion leaders, institutional directors and businessmen were among the attendees at the iftar dinner, a tradition organized by the association every year.
DASİDER Chairman Ahmet Öner emphasized in his speech that discrepancies among members of society are a reality of human life and are part of the richness of God’s reflection in the universe.
Writer and journalist Mehmet Altan was also among the guests who gave a message of unity and tolerance, saying, “Turkey reached a point of forgetting the basics of being a human where just the sub- properties stand out, which led us to fight with each other. When you look at life as a human being and adopt a natural stance of not finding someone that is simply different to be strange, then we can overcome Turkey’s problems.”
Yeşil said, “We believe that the Alevis, Kurds and Circassians of these lands belong with us. The notion of ‘we’ is sufficient to describe all of us. It is always possible to grow together and to share every opportunity, based on justice and human rights.”
Cemal Uşşak, a writer and researcher, also made a speech at the event referring to the Kurdish issue in Turkey, stating that for the last 30 years blood and tears had dominated the eastern provinces of the country and he added that this situation has changed in the last couple of months thanks to the settlement process.
Turkish officials have been conducting talks with the imprisoned leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, since October 2012 to put an end to a decades-old dispute between Turkish security forces and terrorists. The talks led to the declaration of a cease-fire and the withdrawal of some PKK militants from Turkey.
Source: Today's Zaman , 18 July 2013
