A Summary of the Views of "Distinguished Senior Citizens of the World"

At the International Conference on BRIDGING THE GAP IN BETWEEN THE

CULTURES Held in Istanbul in October 9 - 12,2009

Humanity - prepared to meet the Third Millennium with new hopes of

advancement, peace, welfare and sharing, universalization of a mutual
civilization through pluralism of cultures - has been for a long time preoccupied
with an uneasy thought created by the threat of the Theory of Clash of
Civilizations. Coupled with the mistaken inculcation that economy has its own
laws that govern life on earth and the spread of wild globalization practices with
unprecedented earnings and wealth accumulation by business and trade circles
at the expense of exploitation of all sources of production inputs over the world
for purposes of further consumption, evoked fear of all cultures - meaning
identities - being overtaken by a monolithic New World Order. Accentuated by the
distress of observations that democracy and participation do not improve in
essence anywhere in the world, all is under the control of elite minorities like big
business, patriarchy, professional politicians, media and strategic partnerships of
powerful states with vested interests in a certain type of change, people started
to loose hope.

The Senior Citizens of the World mostly share the understanding that the Theory
of Clash of Civilizations can be seen not as a prophecy of inevitable war, but
rather as a keen warning against intolerance to differences, distrust to the other,
discrimination, alienation, marginalization, segregation, exclusion and
assimilation leading to the uniforrnization of larger masses, which usually act
through the propagation of ideas and market forces. The stand to be taken
should be that this warning can best be met by bridging the gap in between the
cultures. The senior citizens of the world believe that the quest for an Alliance of
Civilizations is stronger. They are happy to share their suggestions for fighting
against the inclination towards communal and cross-cultural polarization in our
world.

Culture is values, customs, traditions, morals, higher ideals, aims, style of life
transmitted through the generations to be respected and to be proud of. Here,
two valid assumptions can be made: First, cultures do not change at the pace
ideas do change. Second, a culture is not created as an anti-thesis for another
culture. They have their own life energies, dynamics and ways of living.
Therefore, each culture has its own value and utility. It can be driven easily from
this statement that cultures are not necessarily antagonistic and conflicting. What
create conflict are vital changes taking place in the environment which may
threaten their living space, dynamics and interests. Unfortunately, external
human environment tends to stress visible differences like physical
characteristics, age, religion, ethnicity, language, which are the perceptions of the
outer mind. Inner mind - the soul - recognizes our common humanity, oneness
and unity. We must remember that wisdom is the hardest won of all treasures.
We should take special care that we transmit wisdom and long standing useful
knowledge to the younger generations.

The extremities of change pressure in the global environment are a characteristic

of our day. How do we know whether they are fake or necessary for our particular
culture? For example, the bombardment of external stimuli has increased so
much that spiritual or mental motives in the cultures cannot function properly in
order to pave the way for correct decisions. High urbanization rates create
cultural adaptation problems for the incoming rural culture as well as the
receiving urban culture; both end up by having to live long and culturally
unstructured transition periods. In this environment, globalizors rhetoric to open
up everything in the absence of sufficient cultural and social support mechanisms
keep going on in the media; pressure strategies on the markets and governments
follow. Communication sector bosses have hold on the means that can cause
cultures crash by the images they attach to them. Blueprints are distributed
everywhere and confused minds take the easy way of imitation. The result has
been imbalances, inequalities and highly distorted income distribution within and
among the countries. Insufficiency of family income is the general scene of the
world population. This creates alienation and intolerance, on its way we meet
with violence. Therefore, it would not be wise to accuse only some cultures or
civilizations for the causes of violence; the economic base for it keeps expanding.
In almost all societies, generation space and age group ratios within popUlations
change creating generation gaps that make culture transmission difficult. Family
ties are weakened which drive young generation into radicalism or drugs. This is
why the United Nations visions "a society for all ages," and codes it as need for
"multi-generational citizenship." Moreover, international migration and emigration
induce mainly brain-drain which has negative effects on the cohort structure of
the popUlation, age and skills hierarchy of the labour force, production and
cultural environment in the developing countries. Emigration brings cultures into
direct contact, but at the absence of an interface between mainstream services
and ethno-cultural services, its impacts on experience sharing and capacity
building for cultural diversity are negative. Cultural background is a source of self-
identity. When mixed, identities change. Mixing is enriching if there is sufficient
ethno-cultural infrastructure, but disorienting at its absence. The need for bridges
is apparent in the submission process working between the majority and the
minority cultures. Social exclusion and marginalization mount to create human
rights issues. Local wars provoked by interests of the global forces leading to
displaced people, the homeless, forced camp living, divided families, millions of
refugees sticking together, people living under invasion and cultural restrictions
represent some of the cultural violence types. Religion that has become a source
of political division and conflict since the early age preserved its hold till
nowadays. Refugees and guest workers who become long term residents tend to
tum into socially disadvantaged groups that are inclined to resistance to change
as well as cultural enfeebling. The oppressed and suppressed feel a part of
cosmic humanity, but at the same time long for becoming a part of the world and
life. The changes in contemporary environment seem chaotic and in most cases
manipulated.

Cultures are harmonies of continuity and change. Influenced by their

environment, cultures change as their environment changes. Cultures do not
change on their own, but when they come into contact with other cultures. They
show healthy response to meaningful change which brings definite functional
utility. Cultures being interlace, have the capacity to provoke new synthesis or
consensuses when they meet should interpretation focus on the underlying
unifying bases of cultures. Human differences are outweighed by the similarities.
Human beings share the same aspirations in life; that derive from the same
universal themes,

"Change" as such does not carry any value judgement; positive change is
development of the culture, negative change is deterioration of the culture.
Human heritage exhibits numerous positive change examples that can lighten
our way towards development. Ironically, negative environment and disasters
oblige the seeds that lie silent in a culture to bloom into positive solutions for co-
existence. We find archaeology display this fonnation in the unity of mankind and
the diversity of cultural habitat. From one aspect it was the conflicts that acted,
from another it was contacts, trade relations, cultural influences and integrations.
The city of Istanbul is a primary example of 2800 years of history with numerous
invasions, of cosmopolitanism and of cultural leadership ,vith a strong potential to
act as the bridge between civilizations and many cultures. The Ottoman State
designed the Islamic principle of respect for the religion of others into an
organization for the government of an empire that was spread over three
continents and turned it into an institutional tradition in which all religions and
cultures continued in peaceful co-existence for about 600 years with their own
private community laws under the voluntary guarantee of the government. In our
contemporary world, we can find examples of ethnically mixed peaceful
communities that found solutions either running through their history, such as
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Albania, Macedonia, Jordan, Jerusalem, Slovenia, Ukraine,
Egypt, India etc.; or those hoping to get into the heart of their democracy
practices like Germany, Switzerland ... What history went through is in fact mostly
ad hoc, involuntary or forceful change. But to impose perception is not useful.
Human activity and time play their part, and produced their interpretation. Forced
change rarely reaches the outcomes it has planned for. In today's multilaterally
changing environment what we need is intentional adaptation and cultural
development with the steering mechanism in the hands of the particular culture
itself.

A strategy for constructing voluntary bridges in between cultures by their own

peoples through using their own assets and strengths that can contribute to best
practices for trust and solidarity building and inviting from the other side of the
bridge what is good for the positive adaptive development of their cultures would
be a just and productive approach. By this statement, intentional homogenization
policy or uniformization neither from inside the countries, nor from outside is
being implied. Thus, the wise proposal is to put "culture" and its inner mind -
"common sense" - in front of our karts instead of untested "ideas" imposed from
elsewhere. The distinguished senior citizens of the world define common
understanding of co-existence as working with "positive attitudes" and creating
"dialogues" among cultures, which provide the examples to choose from best
practices, while individual cultures keep developing their own identities.

Main tools for the implementation of the strategy will be self-motivated inter-
cultural communication and interaction, some of its means being arts, learning
languages / dialects, dialogue, translation between languages and correct
transfer between dialects ... The communicative capacity of culture is great, both
as spiritual activity and social legacy. Culture acts vertically from elder to younger
and horizontally from one people to the other. Culture can guide the actions of
individuals and communities more directly and strongly than formal state law.
Thus, where there is a relationship, there is also communication, positive or
negative. What is important is to transform negatives to positive interaction.
Communication helps learning. Inter-cultural communication helps interactive
learning. We must benefit from the technology of our time to further our own
causes, which are to build our own bridges in between our cultures in many
positive ways we wish to develop. To cross the abyss between cultures, we need
to overcome our intellectual obstacles. The truth is that too many walls were built,
but not enough bridges. Walls create prejudice and fear, which leaves the power
at the hands of certain internal or external minorities for the pursuit of self-
interest, quest for hegemony, theft of national resources or wealth from the
peoples of the country. Closed society and culture attitudes have far deeper
repercussions than open culture attitude. Multi-ethnicity or multi-community
counties run into dilemmas due to difficulties in defining culture. Czechoslovakia
divides, Cyprus has difficulties to stay together, Iraq is manipulated from outside
to divide, Yugoslavia is dispersed. All of us need bridges in our minds that should
start from our side, so that we permit our systems, traditions, world views, signs,
symbols, beliefs to connect, interact and be able to choose those practices that
support our genuine development. When collaboration opportunities come about,
cultures tend to leave aside enmities. Thus, the United Nations' decision on
"fostering enabling environments" has a cultural elasticity dimension. also, For
such results. assigned or voluntary, necessity for "bridge builders" will be high.
Bridge builders should be those with two sets of merits: First, they must have
profound1knowledge of their own culture and the mentality of their systems.
Second, they should have built competencies to design and run interaction
systems that build trust and that advance awareness, understanding,
interchange, movement and choice. What do we expect our bridge builders to
take up?

Bridging Values and Principles useful for all cultures is being recommended:

1. Variety in unity is the order of universe.

2. Real bridge is love; it is the language of humanity.

3. To value diversity and uniqueness in every culture and individual.

General diversity in abilities and backgrounds of people, and cultural
diversity enriches co-existence in societies. Cultural variety is the asset
of humanity.

4. Justice. A person's right to dignity should be the only criteria when

treating people.

5. Different (culture or person) but equal. Mutual respect, tolerance and

understanding.

6. Universal human rights should rest on individual, social, cultural equality

and the refusal of discrimination.

7. The long lived religious values acknowledge the living rights of cultures
and people:
 Soloman 3000 years ago, "Spiritual abundance is the key to material
prosperity," Christ, "Do onto others, as you want them to do onto you."

Kur'an, "Oh you human beings! We have created you from a male and a
female, and made you peoples and tribes in order to know one another."

8. Our minds will start voluntary bridges first from our side, so that we
permit our systems, traditions, world views, signs and symbols, beliefs
to connect, interact and be able to choose those practices that support
our genuine development.

9. Don't generalize and stereotype. When perceiving and talking, always

allow and assume differences, until similarity is proven. Treat your
interpretation as an unproven theory until further understanding proves
certainty.

Some of the Bridge Building Policies and Projects proposed are:

Society

• A common understanding of coexistence between different cultures

involves developing certain basic attitudes in all societies:

1. Exchange and cooperation that allows the chance to recognise differing

abilities

2. The recognition of cultural and religious diversity

3. The recognition of different biographies and life-time achievements

4. Willingness to find out more about the differing worlds of origin of the
immigrants

5. Willingness to take a 'new' common path

6. To look for common features and to develop something new from these

7. To overcome the mechanisms upholding segregation

• Increase the numbers of actively working community workers that can help
migrants, immigrants, minorities ...
 • If there is room for accepting immigrants, emigration can be regarded as an
asset and added social value.

• Dialogue and arts should be the tools for contacting other cultures.

Religions

• Peace, thankfulness and contemplation recommending practices of all the

religions must be brought to the foreground.

• Meeting of different religions to put forth the mutual ethical basic principles
that can be accepted all over the world.

Education in Family and in School

• Starting from the closest ones, learn and teach to love peoples of the world
as they are. y Learn and teach to respect differences.

• Learn and teach sharing and altruism.

• Show and live your national and local cultures in depth in the family and in
schools, and teach the tools of your culture with which you can make
international or universal contributions.

• Teach in schools about the cultures, religions and arts.

• On the side of the national curriculum, there should be an international

curriculum not taking sides with ideologies or any system preferences -
accepted by all countries, to teach values and ways for international co-
existence, respecting the living of minority cultures or languages, …

• History, Culture and Art education should give the base for reconciliation
and partnership.

• Copiousness and discord in the amount of information flowing from the

media, necessitates "Media Reading" classes in schools to teach how to
select the correct information, which needs to be handled together with
national and local cultural heritage in order to be able to choose the best for
the country and themselves.
 • Learn and teach to practice empathy.

• All education systems in the world should cover in their curricula at every
grade certain important world events and issues like earth and
environment, climate, disasters, crops and animals, hunger, epidemics,
unemployment, technology change and technology difference,
development etc as agreed by UNESCO Education Council.

• Learn and teach correct verbal communication to be used for everyone

(tonality, tense, gender generalities, words and expressions to be used for
individual or cultural differences ... )

• When talking learn and teach to use descriptions rather than definitions or
judgement. Y Languages of minorities and languages of neighbouring
countries must be taught in supplementary lessons in schools.

Literature and Arts

• Communicative and peace building power of arts should be made a policy

of the world.

• Exchange in arts and art contacts must be increased. ).- Music of all
cultures must be shared.

• National culture and arts should be used as a remedy against aggression,

and as the foundation of peace and prosperity.

• Official languages can be used as a tool to make the works of minorities

heard in the country.

• Good books of your culture are the perfect keepers and transmitters of your
cultural, spiritual and historical values. Publish their original and their
translations in large numbers and distribute them widely. Have them in the
school curricula.

• Translation between languages and correct transfer between dialects must

be taken up as national cultural and sub-cultural programs and action
plans.

Communications
 • Bridge builders must have profound knowledge of their own culture and the
mentality of their systems; they should have built competencies to design
and run interaction systems that build trust and that advance awareness,
understanding, interchange, movement and choice.

• The best of cultures' practices and arts should be on the media and
internet.

• Make films on the contribution of your culture to the world; make mutual
films on interactive development of your cultures.

• Positive results in the art, social policies, science and environment

protection in all countries should be shared regularly on the world media.

• All sorts of media must have certain ratio of their transmission on the
explaining and living of the culture of their countries in several languages.

Economy

• Volunteerism and social responsibility should be integrated into the

operation of businesses.

• Good or service outputs should integrate social returns with indirect

economic gains. >- Business partnerships with neighbouring county
businessmen

Politics

• Culture must be integrated into development policies and programming.

• Human rights should be applied equally to all citizens - majority or minority -
to guest workers, to emigrants, to refugees, to foreigners visiting or doing
business ...

• Trust building measures towards the neighbours and different ethnicities in

the country must be undertaken.

• Instead of using the term "civilisations," use "world civilization."

• Allow diverse views to be expressed and show how you benefit from them.
>- Allow diverse views on international issues.
 • Have enough personnel to be able to address foreign missions and media
in their own languages.

Turkey is the co-founder with Spain of "The Mediterranean Three Culture and
Three Religions Foundation." Also, "The Committee of Wises for the United
Nations Alliance of Civilizations" is co-chaired by the former Director General of
UNESCO, Mr. Frederico Mayor of Spain and Professor and State Minister
Mehmet Aydm of Turkey. Recognition goes to the Turkish government, local
governments, NGOs, foundations and private endeavour to take Turkey and
Istanbul to the level that bridging in between civilizations and cultures need for
the 21 st Century.