Government Hosts "Meeting of Civilizations," Interfaith Dialogue Among Christians, Muslims and Jews

October 1, 2005

Source: Christian Today

http://www.christiantoday.com/news/europe/turkey.holds.meeting.of.civilisations.for.religious.tolerance.amid.eubid.threat/542.htm

On October 1, 2005 Christian Today reported, "According to the Associated Press (AP), around 2,000 Jewish, Christian and Muslim delegates attended the 'Meeting of Civilisations' conference in the religiously and ethnically diverse southern city of Hatay in Turkey. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday to the non-Muslim delegates, 'Our differences are not inevitably pushing us toward a clash; they must not... To those wishing for a clash of civilisations we must be able to say this: no to a clash of civilisations, yes to an alliance of civilisations,' he added, as reported by AP. Erdogan also commented that the officially secular Turkey with [a] 99 percent Muslim [population] can play a key role in interfaith dialogue, according to AP."