Published: Saturday, 11 March, 2006, 10:44 AM Doha Time
News Update - English,
Turkish, Spanish, French
[ March 2006 ]
( English - Türkçe - Español - Français )
OIC calls to fight racial prejudice
Habib Shaikh - Khaleej Times -
Dubai,United Arab Emirates 22 March 2006
JEDDAH — The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) has urged the international community to strengthen cooperation to fight racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances on the bases of culture, religion, nationality, race or language.
It called for the effective implementation of all international treaties and instruments, which forbid such policies in order to ensure the prevalence of human rights, greater harmony and tolerance. In a statement issued on the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which fell on Monday, the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanogul said the Organisation calls upon the international community to intensify their efforts to promote understanding between different civilisations and cultures.
He said there should be joint efforts to counter attempts at cultural and racial domination.
The secretary general lamented that despite 40 years of relentless efforts exerted by the international community to combat the scourge of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances were gaining ground. He added that contemporary forms and manifestations of racism were trying to gain moral, political or legal recognition through subtle means, under the guise of freedom of expression.
The blasphemous and derogatory cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten were a case in point.
EU, OIC urged to draft joint resolution on cartoons
March 11, 2006 SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy
chiefs urged the bloc on Friday to work with Islamic states on a joint U.N.
resolution to help ease tensions caused by a row over cartoons of the Prophet
Mohammad.
The call came as the head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) criticised the EU for not doing enough to heal wounds with Muslims caused by the affair.
Controversy over the cartoons first published last year in a Danish newspaper and since reprinted in other European media sparked worldwide protests by Muslims who believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet. At least 50 people were killed in violent protests.
The 25 EU foreign ministers discussed ways of rebuilding trust with the Islamic world.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner suggested in a joint paper that the EU and the OIC could draft a joint resolution at the United Nations promoting religious tolerance.
The EU and the OIC previously presented two competing resolutions to the U.N. General Assembly, but EU countries voted against the OIC text because it focused too narrowly on discrimination against Islam, an EU official said.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller told reporters he was not sure EU and OIC countries could agree on a joint text.
OIC envoys assured of steps against blasphemy
By Qudssia Akhlaque
March 11, 2006
ISLAMABAD, March 10: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has assured OIC
ambassadors in Geneva that her Office was taking necessary steps to combat
defamation of religions, create a culture of tolerance, explore and elaborate
legal framework for respect of religions as well as freedom of expression to
address the situation created by the publication of blasphemous cartoons.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louis Arbour held out the assurance to a
delegation of 14 Muslim envoys who met her this week to express Islamic world’s
deep concerns on publication of defamatory caricatures in Danish newspaper
Jyllands Posten and their reprinting in several European newspapers, the Foreign
Office said on Friday.
The OIC ambassadors sought UN High Commissioner’s help to address the concerns
of Muslim countries to redress legal deficits in regard to respect for religions
and mobilize human rights machinery to stem recurrence of such outrage, the
Foreign Office said.
Ms Arbour’s view was that when freedom of expression hurt dignity and religious
sensitivities, as in the case of publication of cartoons, the situation could
not be addressed merely by laws. The viable course, she maintained, was to
effectively combat the trend and promote culture of tolerance and sound
political judgment.
The delegation, led by Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Masood Khan, the OIC
coordinator on human rights and humanitarian issues in Geneva, proposed that as
the UN High Commissioner she take concrete measures such as sending a
fact-finding mission and asking the Special Rapporteurs to carry out legal
analysis of the questions surrounding the caricatures issue.
The OIC ambassadors also suggested hosting of dialogues to address cross-cutting
legal, political and cultural issues. They advocated inter-cultural and
inter-religious dialogues for promoting peace, harmony and understanding.
The UN High Commissioner told the delegation that substantive efforts were being
made by her office to raise awareness in this regard through publication,
information campaigns, seminars and conferences.
The OIC envoys conveyed to the High Commissioner that the publication of the
caricature and their reprinting in the media could not be justified in the name
of freedom of expression. It was a deliberate act of provocation.
OIC criticises EU response to cartoons
Published: Saturday, 11 March, 2006, 10:44 AM Doha Time
LONDON: The leader of the world’s largest Muslim body yesterday criticised the European Union for its ‘unsatisfactory response’ to the furor over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that by simply regretting that Muslims found the cartoons offensive, EU foreign ministers had not gone far enough at a meeting in Brussels last week.
"We expected the EU to address the issue of cartoons in a more fair way," Ihsanoglu told a news conference in London.
"I must say that we are not satisfied with the result of last week’s meeting in Brussels. The conclusion published by the European Union fell short of our expectations." – AFP
UN High Commissioner conveyed concern at blasphemous cartoons
GENEVA, March 10 : A delegation of 14 OIC Ambassadors in Geneva met the High Commissioner to express Islamic world’s deep concerns on publication of defamatory caricatures in Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten and their reprinting in several European newspapers, Pakistani mission said.
The delegation was led by Ambassador Masood Khan, who is the OIC Coordinator on Human Rights and Humanitarian issues in Geneva.
The Ambassadors urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to help address the concerns of Muslim countries to redress legal deficits in regard to respect for religions, and mobilize human rights machinery to stem recurrence of such outrage. They said that such deliberate acts are disruptive and counter productive.
The OIC delegation told the High Commissioner that the caricatures had seriously hurt the sensibilities of Islamic nations and peoples all over the world. They emphasized that publication of the caricature and their reprinting in the media could not be justified in the name of freedom of expression. It was a deliberate act of provocation and not an act of negligence.
The delegation advised the High Commissioner, that in view of her leading role in human rights, concrete measures by her office would greatly contribute to promoting respect of religions and their prophets and in avoiding future recurrence of such defamatory acts.
They suggested that such measures may include sending a fact finding mission and asking the Special Rapporteurs to carry out legal analysis of the questions surrounding the caricatures issue.
The OIC Ambassadors also urged the High Commissioner to host a dialogue to bring out complimentarily between freedom of expression and respect of religions and to address cross-cutting legal, political and cultural issues. In this regard, they expressed that intercultural and inter-religious dialogues could make useful contributions in promoting peace, harmony and understanding.
The High Commissioner assured the Ambassadors about her commitment to combating defamation of religions and building a culture of tolerance and understanding. She told the delegation that her office was devoting substantive efforts to raise awareness in this area through publication information campaigns, seminars and conferences.
She expressed the view that when freedom of expression hurt dignity and religious sensitivities, such as in the case of publication of caricatures, the situation could not be addressed by laws alone. The viable course was to effectively combat this trend and promote culture of tolerance and sound political judgment.
She drew the attention of the delegation to the recent statement by the UN Secretary General in Doha in which he said “All of us now join to renew our call for restraint, and for an immediate end to the present atmosphere, which threatens to sow deep discord between communities, societies and countries. We deeply regret the offence given by the caricatures, as well as the loss of life and damage to property in several countries”. www.pakistanlink.com
Muslims strong reaction sensitizes EU
www.kashar.net
ISLAMABAD, March 11 (SANA): Minister for Religious Affairs Ejazul Haq has said
that the strong reaction of Muslims to the issue of blasphemous caricatures
has sensitized the European Union about delicacy of the problem.
He was addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Saturday after his return
from Brussels where he led a parliamentary delegation to apprise the EU
officials about sensitivity of the issue.
The Minister was confident that the Western media too would demonstrate
responsible attitude towards such matters.
He, however, was of the view that the violent protests have damaged our cause.
He cautioned that some elements were engaged in conspiracies against Muslims
and we must not indulge in acts that could amount to advancing their
objectives.
The Minister said the parliamentary delegation demanded of the European Union
to cooperate for the passage of the OIC resolution at the United Nations. He
said the EU, in principle, supports the resolution but also wants introduction
of some amendments to enlarge the scope of the document. The EU wants that
instead of only Islam, other religions and faith should also be included in
the resolution.
He said the delegation also met Brussels-based ambassadors of the Islamic
countries. They were of the view that there was need to activate the OIC. It
was also felt that the OIC should have its office in Brussels. The Muslim
ambassadors appreciated efforts of Pakistan and said it was the only Islamic
country that has sent a parliamentary delegation to Belgium on the issue of
blasphemous caricatures and engaged into a direct dialogue with the European
Union.
Replying to a question the Minister for Religious Affairs said he would soon
visit Jeddah to brief the OIC about the outcome of the delegation's visit to
Brussels.
He told a questioner that more delegations would be sent to other capitals as
well and hoped that the opposition would form part of those delegation.
Ihsanoglu Slams Western "Double Standards"
 |
|
"This is a Western and
European problem which should be addressed properly," said Ihsanoglu.
(Reuters) |
LONDON, March 11, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) blasted Friday, March 10, Western governments' "double standards" which he said were exploited by extremists.
"What is going on in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and Basra, this is obviously seen as double standards," said OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at a press conference in London, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He was referring to the notorious US prisons in Cuba and Iraq, where prisoners have been tortured and sexually abused, according to US media reports and leaked photos.
"This is a Western and European problem which should be addressed properly," he stressed, adding that global tensions could be eased if Western nations applied their professed values universally.
"If we are talking about human rights as universal, how can one say there are islands on which human rights are not applied? We have a problem here," Ekmeleddin fumed.
He went on: "Their defense of freedom of expression and human rights were undermined by the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the US-led occupation of Iraq and Israel's occupation of Palestine."
Last year, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the world must make progress on issues used by terrorists as a reason for violence such as the Middle East conflict, admitting that the Iraq war was used to recruit terrorists.
David Clark, a former British government adviser, wrote in a Guardian piece that the world should take "legitimate" Arab grievances seriously if it wanted to defeat terrorism.
Extremism
The chief of the pan-Muslim body said such double standards are fanning up extremism and help recruit terrorists, stressing that extremists did not represent the true nature of the Muslim faith.
"Why are some people supporting them? Because they tell them: 'There are double standards -- look what is taking place in Palestine, look what is taking place in Iraq'.
"They ask the people: 'Do you like this?' and they say 'No, we don't like it', and then they get the support, financial, spiritual and moral," he added.
Ekmeleddin, a Turk, further described as inexplicable the July 7 bomb attacks in London in which four presumed Muslims set off bombs on London Underground trains and a bus, killing themselves and 52 commuters.
He urged moderate Muslim leaders to speak out against radicals who praise the bombers, adding: "Nothing can justify this (attack) in the name of any religion, any ideology, any belief."
A statement issued by over forty leading mosque imams, muftis and scholars representing all sections of Muslims in Britain condemned the attacks and stressed that the four Muslim bombers can not consider themselves martyrs.
Unfair EU
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|
Solana suggested that the EU
and the OIC could draft a joint resolution at the UN promoting religious
tolerance. (Reuters) |
Ekmeleddin also criticized the European Union for what he described as an unsatisfactory response to the furor over the publication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).
"We expected the EU to address the issue of cartoons in a more fair way," Reuters quoted Ihsanoglu as saying.
By simply regretting that Muslims found the cartoons offensive, EU foreign ministers had not gone far enough at their meeting in Brussels, he added.
"I must say that we are not satisfied with the result of last week's meeting in Brussels. The conclusion published by the European Union fell short of our expectations."
EU foreign ministers issued a strong condemnation of attacks on EU citizens and property.
Pundits said the statement was more critical of the Muslim reaction than of the cartoons themselves.
The 12 cartoons, which Ihsanoglu described as "insulting, ugly and uncivilized", were first published by a Danish newspaper and then reprinted by papers across Europe.
The furor exposed a gulf of misunderstanding between the West, which defended the publication by citing the right of free speech, and Muslims who saw it as an attack on their beliefs.
Muslim scholars and preachers demanded the Danish government anew on Friday, March 10, at a Copenhagen conference apologize for the publication of the cartoons and renewed calls for an international law banning blasphemy.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in Salzburg, Austria, suggested on Friday in a joint paper that the EU and the OIC could draft a joint resolution at the United Nations promoting religious tolerance.
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, however, told reporters he was not sure EU and OIC countries could agree on a joint text.
World Muslim body criticises EU over cartoons
By Gideon Long
LONDON, March 10 2006 (Reuters) - The leader of the world's largest Muslim body criticised the European Union on Friday for what he described as an unsatisfactory response to the furore over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that by simply regretting that Muslims found the cartoons offensive, EU foreign ministers had not gone far enough at a meeting in Brussels last week.
"We expected the EU to address the issue of cartoons in a more fair way," Ihsanoglu told a news conference in London.
"I must say that we are not satisfied with the result of last week's meeting in Brussels. The conclusion published by the European Union fell short of our expectations."
The 12 cartoons, which Ihsanoglu described as "insulting, ugly and uncivilised", were first published by a Danish newspaper and then reprinted by papers across Europe.
They sparked indignation and violence in the Muslim world, where images of the prophet are deemed blasphemous. At least 50 people were killed in anti-Western protests and three Danish embassies were attacked.
The furore exposed a gulf of misunderstanding between the West, which defended the publication by citing the right of free speech, and Muslims who saw it as an attack on their beliefs.
In their Feb. 27 statement, EU foreign ministers issued a strong condemnation of attacks on EU citizens and property.
Diplomats noted the statement was more critical of the Muslim reaction than one issued days earlier by the United Nations, the Arab League and the OIC, an umbrella group of 57 predominantly Muslim nations.
BRITISH INTEGRATION
Ihsanoglu, the first OIC secretary general to visit Britain since the body's foundation 37 years ago, praised the level of integration between Britain's Muslims and non-Muslims.
"I think the situation of Muslims here with all honesty is much better than the situation of Muslims elsewhere in Europe," he said. "That shows that the British model is more successful than other models."
Britain's tradition of multiculturalism has been called into question since last year's London suicide bombings, perpetrated by British-born Muslims. Critics of it say the British should be more forceful in persuading its immigrant communities to abandon their ethnic roots and conform to British traditions.
Ihsanoglu, an Egyptian-born Turk, said he had discussed the bombings and their impact on Britain's 1.6 million Muslims with British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and Home Secretary Charles Clarke during his visit.
"(Muslims) feel they are all under suspicion," he said. "The Muslim community in its entirety should not be held responsible (for the bombings)."
Pakistan, OIC, EU to move resolution in UN to stonewall recurrence of
sacrilegious cartoons like incidents
Sunday March 12, 2006
ISLAMABAD: Terming his recently concluded Brussels visit highly
successful, federal minister for religious affairs Ijaz-ul-Haq has held out
assurances that Pakistan, OIC and European Union will jointly table a
resolution in the United Nations in a bid to stonewall recurrence of tragic
incidents like publication of sacrilegious caricatures.
"Freedom of expression has some limitations and we will take action against Denmark’s dailies in line with Copenhagen established rules and regulations," flanked by Asad Murtaza Gillani and Mushtaq victor, Ijaz-ul-Haq expressed these views at a press conference on Saturday.
The European Union in this connection was awaiting our visit anxiously but had the opposition joined us than the visit would have far-reaching positive impact, he regretted.
The publication of blasphemous caricatures is the issue of all Muslims, he said adding however, he would in future extend invitation to the opposition to join them in such visits.
He vowed that under section 140A and 267B of Denmark laws, the issue of cartoons publication would be taken to the Denmark courts with the cooperation of Copenhagen Muslim community.
He however, regretted that torching of some western embassies in Islamic countries in this connection had affected the image of Muslim.
"We should lodge peaceful protest. We should not create law and order," he concluded.
Western Double Standard Fueled Anger Over Controversial Cartoons
Arab News, Associated Press
LONDON, 11 March 2006 —
Western double standards demonstrated by the detentions at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay fueled anger that led to violent protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the head of the world’s largest Muslim group said yesterday.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, said that in many areas of policy, Western nations held themselves to one standard and Muslim countries to another.
He cited the detention without charge of hundreds of suspects at Guantanamo, prisoner abuses at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the printing by some European newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet.
“Behind this (anger) there are so many other factors. Treating issues with different approaches, yardsticks, is the main problem. If we are talking about human rights, no one can say there are islands where human rights do not apply,” he said, referring to the Guantanamo camp.
Ihsanoglu has condemned both the cartoons and the violent protests against them.
Muslims don’t object to freedom of speech, but only want Europeans and Americans to treat Islam with respect, he said.
“They really have no issue with the freedom of opinion or expression,” he said. “Everyone is for freedom of expression, but we know that ... freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility. There is no absolute freedom.”
Scholars Urge Dialogue, Call on Denmark to Apologize
In Copenhagen, Muslim and Christian scholars and clerics agreed at a conference yesterday that the West and Islam must use dialogue to repair ties frayed by the crisis over the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) cartoons.
However, the Muslim panelists accused the Danish government of mishandling the crisis and said it must apologize to the Muslim world if wants an Arab boycott on Danish goods to be lifted.
“We request an official apology from your government to the Muslim nation and to the Muslims in Denmark,” said Tariq Al-Suweidan, an Islamic scholar from Kuwait. He also demanded that the European Union enact a law “that forbids the insult to religious figures.”
Jyllands-Posten has apologized for offending Muslims, but stands by its decision to print the drawings, citing the freedom of speech.
Some Islamic leaders have criticized the Muslim panelists for coming to Denmark, saying there could be no dialogue without an official apology from the Nordic country.
OIC-Delegation OIC ambassadors
call on UN High Commissiner for Human Rights in Geneva
Tariq Bashir 'Pakistan Times' Foreign Correspondent
GENEVA (Switzerland): A delegation of 14
OIC ambassadors Friday held a meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights here to express Islamic world's deep concerns over publication of
defamatory caricatures in Danish newspaper and their reprinting in several
European newspapers.
The delegation was led by Ambassador Masood Khan, who is the OIC Coordinator on
Human Rights and Humanitarian issues in Geneva.
The ambassadors urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to
help Muslim countries to redress legal deficits in regard to respect for
religions, and mobilize human rights machinery to stem recurrence of such
outrage.
They said that such deliberate acts are disruptive and counter productive.
The OIC delegation told the High Commissioner that the caricatures had seriously
hurt the sensibilities of Islamic nations and peoples all over the world.
They emphasized that publication of the caricature and their reprinting in the
media could not be justified in the name of freedom of expression. It was a
deliberate act of provocation and not an act of negligence.
Call for Concrete Measures
The delegation asked the High Commissioner to take concrete measures by her
office to contribute in promoting respect of religions and their prophets and in
avoiding future recurrence of
such defamatory acts.
They suggested that such measures may include sending a fact finding mission and
asking the Special Rapporteurs to carry out legal analysis of the questions
surrounding the caricatures issue.
The OIC ambassadors also urged the High Commissioner to host a dialogue to bring
out complimentarily between freedom of expression and respect of religions and
to address cross-cutting
legal, political and cultural issues.
In this regard, they expressed that intercultural and inter-religious dialogues
could make useful contributions in promoting peace, harmony and understanding.
The High Commissioner assured the ambassadors about her commitment to combating
defamation of religions and building a culture of tolerance and understanding.
She told the delegation that her office was devoting substantive efforts to
raise awareness in this area through publication information campaigns, seminars
and conferences.
She expressed the view that when freedom of expression hurt dignity and
religious sensitivities, such as in the case of publication of caricatures, the
situation could not be addressed by laws alone.
The viable course was to effectively combat this trend and promote culture of
tolerance and sound political judgment.
http://pakistantimes.net
Even in the West, Free Speech is not an Absolute Right
New York
06 March 2006
VOICE OF AMERICA
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2006-03-06-voa48.cfm
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Freedom of speech has been a hot topic in the news lately. It is one of the pillars of Western society, but, as newspaper editors in Europe recently learned, free speech is a concept some people in the world believe ought to be limited.
Riots in predominantly Muslim countries over the publication of religiously offensive cartoons have caused some to assert that the debate is one of "The West versus The Rest." But even in Western societies, the right to express oneself is not absolute.
Next month, for example, America's Public Broadcasting system, or "PBS," will air a documentary called "The Armenian Genocide." It will explore the circumstances surrounding the deaths of an estimated 1.2 million Armenians who lived in the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I.
The overwhelming consensus among Western scholars is that these deaths constitute the first genocide of the 20th century. But the Turkish government disputes that conclusion, saying the deaths were not the result of state-sponsored extermination, and cannot, therefore, be called "genocide."
Following the documentary, PBS plans to air a 25-minute panel discussion that includes two scholars who embrace the widely dismissed view of the Turkish government.
"We're certainly concerned about this, and we feel this program really has no place on public television," says Elizabeth Chouldjian of the Armenian National Committee of America, which has called on PBS not to broadcast the panel discussion. "Just as one would not give equal time to Holocaust deniers to get up on PBS and talk about their incorrect views," Chouldjian says, "similarly one shouldn't cloud the issue and misguide viewers by bringing known genocide deniers to this type of equation."
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| British historian David Irving holds his book "Hitler's War" when arriving at a court in Vienna, on Monday, Feb. 20, 2006. |
PBS did not respond to VOA's requests for an interview. But Elizabeth Chouldjian's assertion that the network would never give airtime to deniers of the Jewish Holocaust has captured some people's attention, particularly in light of the recent conviction of David Irving, the British historian who was sentenced in Vienna to three years' jail-time for breaking an Austrian law that forbids denial of the Holocaust.
According to Robert Kahn, a professor at Brooklyn Law School who has written extensively about laws governing Holocaust denial, free speech in the West is not an absolute right. It is tempered, Kahn says, by a complex system of legal and self-imposed censorship that's almost always derived from a society's history.
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| Brooklyn law professor Robert Kahn specializes on legal restrictions on holocaust denial |
"The countries that tend to have the laws that specifically ban Holocaust denial -- France, Germany, and Austria --- either participated in the Holocaust or had serious problems with collaboration," he says. "Even though the United States and Canada have large Jewish communities, and have survivors and people who experienced the Holocaust, it's not the same type of thing."
It is not illegal in the United States to deny the Holocaust, just exceedingly undiplomatic, given the number of survivors who came to this country after the war, and no one who wants to enjoy mainstream credibility would ever do it. That does not mean, though, that speech in America is without any legal restrictions. Robert Kahn says there are a number of state and federal laws that limit expression.
"There are some types of speech, like cross burning, which, when done to intimidate, are illegal," Kahn says. "In a lot of states, particularly in the U.S. South, you're not allowed to demonstrate while wearing a mask. These rules are basically connected up with the role of the (Ku Klux) Klan in American history, and tend to show that societies are very concerned about speech that talks about prior acts of racism…they have committed."
But it is not just negative, or "ugly" history that causes some western societies to impose official and unofficial limits on free speech. Professor Kahn points to the fact that no major American newspapers chose to publish the cartoons of Mohammed that generated controversy when they were distributed throughout Europe. "The United States is a religious country and understands the idea of respecting or disrespecting someone else's religion," he says. "Whereas you could make an argument that Europe is much more secular, and that therefore the idea that you would run something that profanes the Prophet is not as big a deal."
Meanwhile, PBS has not announced any plans to cancel its broadcast of the panel discussion, which was taped in early February, and is scheduled to air on April 17th.
Support Urged for Dialogue Between Cultures
Arab News
www.arabnews.com
DOHA, 1 March 2006 — The UN-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations conference ended here yesterday after three days of deliberations on a host of issues to bring about rapprochement and co-existence of different cultures and religions and overcome fanaticism, the Qatari news agency QNA reported.
Participants of the conference stressed that ignorance breeds conflict between civilizations and that extremism was present all over the world and in all cultures.
Addressing a press conference at the end of the meeting, former UNESCO director Federico Mayor Zaragoza called on the UN, the EU and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to support the dialogue between cultures and civilizations by taking actions to deal with political and religious issues such as the recent publication in Western papers of blasphemous cartoons that have caused uproar in the Muslim world.
Zaragoza said just 3 percent of Muslims protested against the cartoons angrily whereas the reactions of over 97 percent were peaceful. He said he regretted that the media had chosen to highlight only violent protests. “There is a need to present balanced visions in media and support the communication between religions, cultures and nations,” said Mayor Zaragoza.
Turkish State Minister Mohammad Eddin urged all religious and political figures worldwide to work with a spirit of tolerance to change the status quo and put an end to inter-fighting and killing. He said the freedom of expression is important but it is more important to protect the religious freedom and maintain respect to religious beliefs.
The Alliance of Civilizations was launched in response to a request from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to overcome misperceptions between cultures, especially the Muslim world and the West.
Spain to support Pakistan for moving resolution in UN on blasphemous sketches issue
ISLAMABAD, March 08 www.paktribune.com
Spain has regretted over publication of blasphemous cartoon and announced to
support Pakistan in moving resolution in UN on this issue.
This was said by foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri while addressing a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart here in foreign office Tuesday.
Every Muslim is saddened over the publication of sacrilegious sketches, Kasuri said adding Pakistan and Spain in this perspective had agreed to work for fostering interfaith harmony and bridging the gulf and divide between Islam and West. An interfaith conference will also take place in Turkey in February, he told. Spain will support Pakistan in moving resolution on this issue in UN, he indicated.
Kasuri held his talks with Spanish foreign minister remained constructive and fruitful and his visit would help strengthen bilateral relations between Pakistan and Spain as it was the first visit of Spanish foreign minister. Both the countries are working together for the cause of peace and stability in the region. Spain extended wholehearted relief aid to Pakistan for rehabilitation of quake affectees. 400 Spanish troops also took part in relief operations, he told.
Spain will make investment in Pakistan, he told. " We have asked Spain to waive anti-dumping duty on bed linen being member of EU and promote trade ties." Cooperation will be bolstered in defence purchases, he added. Direct Air flights will run between Pakistan and Barcelona. Spain will also provide loan amounting to 10 million Euro.
" I have apprised Spanish foreign minister of dialogue process between Pakistan and India and Pakistan stance on Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Iran", Kasuri informed.
Both the countries have signed " Protocol on Bilateral Consultations between the ministry of foreign affairs and the Spanish ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, he maintained.
Replying to a question Kasuri said that Pakistan had paid heavy price for peace in Afghanistan. Still there are 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. We are shocked when we are accused despite this fact, he added. " We had played part more than US and Afghanistan in war against terrorism. 600 Pakistani troops embraced shahadat in the war and on the other side only 100 US troops were killed. 80000 forces are deployed on Pakistan-Afghan borders. If even then we are alleged, it will not be allowed.
He underlined that some forces were out to undermine bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. That is why President Musharraf gave documentary proof to Karzai. This was also given to President Bush.
" We asked Afghan government not to bring such matters in media but our request was ignored. We would have to trust each other and work together in our mutual interest.
To a question Kasuri said that one person who was arrested on the charges of having links with Al-qaeda was under investigation. After extracting information we will inform Spain in this connection.
Replying to a question, he said Pakistan and India are nuclear powers. " We have 600 scientists and 55000 technicians. However we have no objection on US-India nuclear deal. We don’t need such accord now. We will consider when an occasion comes. " We have worked a lot to acquire civilian nuclear technology. We will take help from hydal thermal and nuclear institutions to meet our energy requirements, headed. Country’s nuclear program is fully safe, he reiterated.
He went on to say that China and Australia had not expressed satisfaction over US-India civilian nuclear technology accord. We have to see now what Congress will do now. We will take our decision after Congress proceedings. Pakistan has no aggressive designs against any one , he reiterated.
Spanish foreign minister said a new era of relationship between Pakistan and Spain was going to usher in today. Both the countries would work together to face the bilateral, regional and global challenges.
On blasphemous caricature issue, there is need to go for dialogue, he said adding Spain supports convening conference of alliance of civilizations. Spain regrets over publication of profane caricatures and appreciates the efforts being made by OIC and Arab League for forging harmony. Harmony is imperative among all faiths and cultures. " We support convening conference in Pakistan on interfaith harmony", he remarked.
To a question Spanish foreign minister said EU is working on a resolution with reference to interfaith harmony and mutual respect. Right of freedom of expression be exercised within the parameters of obligations.
Spain will enhance security with Pakistan in war on terror, he added. EU will defeat terrorism.
Issues like Kashmir and Palestine be resolved, he noted. A global strategy has to be evolved to stamp out menace of terrorism.
He held that all the nuclear activities should take place under IAEA framework. Civil technology should be used for civil purposes, he stressed.
Speaking at a meeting of the High Level Group of
the Alliance of Civilizations in Qatar, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan suggested respected individuals from all walks of life should become
involved in an international dialogue aimed at bridging the seemingly growing
divide between Muslims and the West. "We need to engage in dialogue not only
scholars, or diplomats or politicians but also artists, entertainers, sports
champions -- people who command respect and attention right across society,"
Annan said.
February 27, 2006 UN Wire
Support Urged for Dialogue Between Cultures
Arab News Wednesday, 1,
March, 2006 (30, Muharram, 1427) www.arabnews.com
DOHA, 1 March 2006 — The UN-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations conference ended here yesterday after three days of deliberations on a host of issues to bring about rapprochement and co-existence of different cultures and religions and overcome fanaticism, the Qatari news agency QNA reported.
Participants of the conference stressed that ignorance breeds conflict between civilizations and that extremism was present all over the world and in all cultures.
Addressing a press conference at the end of the meeting, former UNESCO director Federico Mayor Zaragoza called on the UN, the EU and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to support the dialogue between cultures and civilizations by taking actions to deal with political and religious issues such as the recent publication in Western papers of blasphemous cartoons that have caused uproar in the Muslim world.
Zaragoza said just 3 percent of Muslims protested against the cartoons angrily whereas the reactions of over 97 percent were peaceful. He said he regretted that the media had chosen to highlight only violent protests. “There is a need to present balanced visions in media and support the communication between religions, cultures and nations,” said Mayor Zaragoza.
Turkish State Minister Mohammad Eddin urged all religious and political figures worldwide to work with a spirit of tolerance to change the status quo and put an end to inter-fighting and killing. He said the freedom of expression is important but it is more important to protect the religious freedom and maintain respect to religious beliefs.
The Alliance of Civilizations was launched in response to a request from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to overcome misperceptions between cultures, especially the Muslim world and the West.
By WILLIAM M. REILLY
UPI U.N. Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A soft-spoken man who bears the weight of global problems traveled from New York to Doha, Qatar, this past weekend to plea for calm dialogue among civilizations in face of deadly riots in reaction to cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan saw in a high-level meeting Sunday of the Alliance of Civilizations a venue for that plea in which he said the fringe -- not the mainstream -- reacts the boldest and that is not where calm dialogue can take place.
The recently-established alliance was intended "to bridge divides and overcome prejudice, misconceptions and polarization" well before recent cartoons in a Danish publication sparked protests half way round the world.
Its aim also was to "address emerging threats emanating from hostile perceptions that foment violence" and "the sense of a widening gap and lack of mutual understanding between Islamic and Western societies."
The passions aroused by the cartoons' publication and the reaction to it, showed "only too clearly that such threats are real, and that the need for a committed effort by the international community is acute," he told the meeting, even though the body was not intended to deal with "immediate crises like this."
Annan said the intensity of feeling comes from "a deep reservoir of mistrust and resentment, which was there long before the offensive cartoons were first printed" but the "present crisis can be considered an expression of a much deeper and longer-standing crisis, which is precisely the one that the Alliance was intended to address."
He faulted a trend towards extremism in many societies.
"We should beware of overemphasizing it, because extremism in one group is almost always fed by the perception of extremism in another group," Annan said. "Few people think of themselves as extremists, but many can be pushed towards an extreme point of view, almost without noticing it, when they feel that the behavior or language of others is extreme."
The secretary-general argued those who shout the loudest or act most provocatively "are not necessarily typical of the group on whose behalf they claim to speak."
While centuries ago it was possible to clearly distinguish Islamic and Western, or Christian, civilizations, globalization has changed that.
Now, "There is a great deal of overlap between the two," Annan said, adding, "many individuals today see no contradiction between their Muslim religion and their membership of Western societies."
As to whether the caricatures were intended to provoke Muslim riots, some of the reaction has in turn encouraged extremists groups within European societies who seek to "demonize Muslim immigrants or even expel them," Annan said.
At the same time, republication of the cartoons strengthened those in the Muslim world who see Europe, or the West, "as irredeemably hostile to Islam, and encourage Muslims always to see themselves as victims," further worsening the situation.
"So misperception feeds extremism, and extremism appears to validate misperception. That is the vicious circle we have to break," Annan said. "The problem is not with the faith but with a small group of the faithful -- the extremists who tend to abuse and misinterpret the faith to support their cause, whether they derive it from the Koran, the Torah or the Gospel.
"We must not allow these extreme views to overshadow those of the majority and the mainstream. We must appeal to the majority to speak up and denounce those who disrespect values and principles of solidarity that are present in all great religions.
"If they fail to do so, the essential dialogue between cultures and societies will be reduced to an angry exchange between the fringes, with each side assuming that extremists speak for the other side as a whole and -- in turn -- allowing its own extremists to frame its response," the secretary-general continued.
But, he did not see that alone as a solution to the current troubles.
"Everyone is entitled to freedom of worship and freedom of opinion and expression, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," he said. "These rights carry with them an inherent responsibility, and should not be used to degrade, humiliate or insult any group or individual. On the contrary, we should all exercise great sensitivity when dealing with symbols and traditions that are sacred to other people."
So how could the high-level meeting he was addressing help?
"We need to engage in dialogue (with) not only scholars, or diplomats or politicians, but also artists, entertainers, sports champions -- people who command respect and attention right across society, and especially among young people, because it is very important to reach young people before their ideas and attitudes have fully crystallized."
"Free speech involves listening as well as talking," the secretary-general said. "It must tell people of all faiths that it is too late in our common history to go back to wars of religion, and urge them to ask themselves whether they want their children to grow up in a world of hate."
Concluded Annan, "It must be a divine message - heard not in the earthquake, nor in the fire, nor yet in the rushing mighty wind, but in the still, small voice of calm."
UN, OIC, Arab League meet to end cartoon row
• Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006 www.thetidenews.com
The UN, Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) have jointly called for an immediate end to the tension prevailing in some parts of the world over the offensive caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
A communique issued in Doha at weekend after a meeting among the secretaries-general of the UN, the Arab League and the OIC and the foreign ministers of Qatar, Spain and Turkey, said the offence caused by the cartoons and the resulting loss of lives and damage to property were deeply regretted.
Qatar's First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani told reporters at a joint news conference that serious discussions were underway to resolve and avoid repetitions of such incident in the future.
"The UN is working out a mechanism in this direction," he said, adding that dragging religions into controversies was detrimental to world peace.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would seek a joint international decision on the issue at the UN and was expecting the EU to come out with a decision on respecting Muslim sentiments.
I will submit this statement before the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council. I cannot commit anything since it is the member countries who decide on the issue," he said, replying to questions on whether the UN would issue a resolution against blasphemy in the context of the cartoon controversy.
The EU has so far failed to take a joint decision condemning the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper, while some of its senior leaders have defended the cartoons in the name of freedom of expression.
Ihsanoglu said the OIC had already taken up the matter with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and was awaiting a response from the EU meeting on Monday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel" Angel Moratinos said Spain, as a member of the EU, was against the blasphemous cartoons.
He promised to take the statement to the EU meeting which hold on Simdau and seek a joint decision on the issue.
Arab-Muslim Genuine Political Lobbying, PR & Grassroots Campaigns Are Now called For Versus Astroturf
By Ali Al-Hail
Al-Jazeerah, March 3, 2006
Definitions:
The term of ‘Arabic\Muslim Genuine Political Lobbying, PR & Grassroots’ is strictly, defined for this article as; the call on Arabs-Muslims for engaging in public political debate and embark on a PR, and grassroots campaigns.
The latter term is different from the term of ‘Astroturf’. This term hypothetically, refers to grassroots groups or coalitions which are actually fake, often created by corporations or public relations firms.
Campaigns & Elections magazine however, defines the term of ‘astroturf’ as a "grassroots program that involves the instant manufacturing of public support for a point of view in which either uninformed activists are recruited or means of deception are used to recruit them" ( http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf )
Meanwhile, the aim of the former term of ‘Arabic\Muslims’ genuine political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns’ (which is completely, different from the term ‘Astroturf’) is; for Arabs\Muslims to address their issues to people in the West, from their point of view, whose information on Arabs\Muslims’ causes are overall, limited. These issues range from, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the cartoons caricaturing the Prophet of Mercy for all humanity, the war on terror, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the war in Chechnya, anti occupation resistance movements such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbo allah (Party of God), al-Qaeda and so forth.
The reason is; it’s very difficult for people in the west, with different cultural, educational background, and with decades of relentless grass rooted Jewish\Zionist\Israeli successful political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns, of ill-informing, and faking facts (Astroturf), to understand why Muslims are angry and frustrated over for instance, pictures in Western newspapers depicting their Prophet, the Prophet of Mercy for all humanity Mohammad, Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH).
The huge vacuum as regard, and the lack of Arabic\Muslim genuine political lobbying, PR & grassroots in the West, have unfortunately, been leading Arabs and Muslims into fuelling the west’s plans. This has been happening for at least, the past 8 decades under the immense influence of the well articulated, vigilant and organized Jewish\Zionist\Israeli political lobbying. PR and grassroots campaigns of misguiding, and distorting historical events (Astroturf) profoundly, ingrained into the West’s culture since as early, as 1933.
There exist so many mechanisms through which Arabic\Muslim genuine political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns can workout had these mechanisms given the chance. Arab\Muslim cultural offices, public relations within Arabic\Muslim embassies in the West and the media amongst other means can be activated in this direction. It’s a very lengthy process and unfortunately there aren’t enough ‘good’ Muslim spokespeople who know the art of persuasion and understand the manipulative nature of the media. This impression is similarly, applicable to new age of satellite media in the Arab\Muslim World.
This saddening situation of Arabic\Muslim genuine political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns in the West versus strong and longtime rooted Jewish\Zionist\Israeli political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns of persuading the audience, and manipulating them via the media (Astroturf) incredibly, round the clock, alert and ready to act in the West (based on their understanding of the manipulative role of the media), had resulted into people in the West seeing in the media images of uprising Arabs\Muslims without contexts.
The consequence cannot be any fatal. These images encourage them to vote for new so called ‘anti terror’ laws which are nothing more than clamping down on civil liberties. Liberties and rights people died for. Once taken away, it’ll be near impossible to reverse the consequences. The existing deep rooted Jewish\Zionist\Israeli political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns (Astroturf) are mainly, the prime factors behind such a law in the West.
The reality is, according to Dina kaldi, “as a politically aware individual with privileged media and PR insight, I see this happening in the west. By example, in Germany, a respectable historian had been given a prison senesce of 3 years, simply for refusing to admit 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. He believes millions suffered, and died, but not six million. Since when it’s a crime to have an opposing opinion? In London, the London Mayor, has been suspended for one month for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard. I find both cases ridiculous but the reason they happened in the first place, and have been accepted by the public is because the Jewish community have actively lobbied and engaged in an aggressive PR campaign (Astroturf i.e., by faking the truth about the Israeli Arab dispute). Can you imagine last week a well known British singer was stopped in the airport and questioned for several hours just because he publicly called Bush and Blair as terrorists” (Dina Kaldi, February, 28th, Private).
As a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Simpson College \ Indianola and Drake University \ De Moines in Iowa State last year, I delivered lectures aimed at political lobbying, PR, and grassroots campaigns almost everywhere within Indianola, and De Moines such as, churches, rotary clubs, farms (since Iowa is associated with farms culture), coffee shops at breakfast time as early, as 6:30 Am, in the morning, UN Association at De Moines, Newspapers, particularly, the Register which is the main paper at De Moines, students’ houses and the like.
I have observed from first hand experience, how people at grassroots need to be able of becoming aware of the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims’ issues. I can claim that, these lectures about political lobbying, PR, and grassroots campaigns on Arabs\Muslims issues had managed to change a lot of views, stereotypes and negative images of Arabs and Muslims. Now if a person, one person could do that, a collective effort by Arabs and Muslims of seeking political lobbying, PR and grassroots campaigns in the West can do far much more, had the intentions, and the political will been in place.
Professor, Dr. Ali Al-Hail, Professor of Mass Communication, Twice Fulbright Award Winner, Fulbright Visiting Scholar, and Board Member of AUSACE ASC, IABD, NEBAA, BEA, IMDA and EAJMC American Associations.
Can be Contacted on: pdaah90@hotmail.com
Doha Declaration Urges Respect of Religions
 |
|
The participants urged
everyone to resist provocation, overreaction, violence, and turn to
dialogue. (Courtesy: Al-Jazeera). |
By Dalia Al-Hadidi, IOL Correspondent
DOHA, February 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) - The United Nations, Arab states and the world's largest Islamic body on Saturday, February 25, urged respect for all religions, regretting the publication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
"We deeply regret the offence given by the caricatures," said a joint declaration issued in the Qatari capital city of Doha by UN Secretary of State Kofi Annan and the heads of the Arab League and the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, who were also at the meeting.
The parties concerned pledged to adopt a common strategy to head off a repeat of the cartoons crisis, stressing the importance of responsible media and free speech as long as it is not used as a pretext to incite hatred, blasphemy or violence.
It called for enhancing dialogue, pinning high hopes on a Sunday meeting of the UN-backed Alliance of Civilizations in Doha.
"We urge everyone to resist provocation, overreaction and violence, and turn to dialogue. Without dialogue we cannot hope to appeal to reason, to heal resentment or overcome mistrust," said the statement, also issued by the foreign ministers of Qatar, Spain and Turkey who attended the meeting.
The cartoons, one of them showing the Prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were first published last September in a Danish newspaper and since reprinted in other European papers.
Any image of the Prophet -- let alone biting caricatures -- is considered blasphemous under Islam.
Restraint
The statement further urged restraint in the Muslim world, regretting "the loss of life and damage to property in several countries."
"All of us now join to renew our call for restraint and for an immediate end to the present atmosphere, which threatens to sow deep discord between communities, societies and countries," it read.
"We also reaffirm the right to peaceful protest, especially where deep hurt has been caused, and we acknowledge that Muslims do indeed feel deep hurt over the caricatures," it said.
The drawings have triggered a massive boycott of Danish products across the Muslim world, but also sparked worldwide violent protests that led to deaths in some countries like Nigeria and Pakistan.
Demonstrators set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut earlier in the month and Syrian protesters did the same with the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus.
The violence drew unanimous condemnation from Muslim scholars worldwide and prompted many Muslims to launch individual initiatives to remove stereotypes about Islam and the prophet in the Western media.
Denmark has welcomed an initiative by Muslim preacher Amr Khaled to visit the Scandinavian country with a host of Muslim youths to engage in a dialogue with Danish youths and intellectuals. The country is further planning a series of initiatives to build bridges with the Muslim world after the row.
IslamOnline.net decided earlier in February to launch a multi-lingual Web site to acquaint non-Muslims with the prophet of Islam.
www.islam-online.netAB, Türkiye ve İspanya'nın hayata geçirdiği 'Medeniyetler
İttifakı' projesini destekliyor (İngilizce)
AB Dışişleri Bakanları Brüksel'de yaptıkları toplantıda karikatür krizini ele
aldılar.Toplantı sonunda yayınlanan sonuç bildirisinde, AB üyesi ülkeler İspanya
ve Türkiye'nin önderliğinde gerçekleştirilen 'Medeniyetler İttifakı' projesi
çalışmalarına destek verdi.
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Council conclusions on reactions in the Muslim world
to publications in European media
(2712nd EXTERNAL RELATIONS Council meeting - Brussels, 27 February 2006)
The Council adopted the following conclusions:
"The Council expresses its deep concern at the events that followed the
publication of cartoons in a number of European and other media. The Council
acknowledges and regrets that these cartoons were considered offensive and
distressing by Muslims across the world.
Freedom of expression is a fundamental right and an essential element of a
democratic discourse,with an independent judiciary as a safeguard mechanism.
Free media are indispensable to a free and open society and to accountable
systems of government. Freedoms, however, come with responsibilities. Freedom of
expression should be exercised in a spirit of respect for religious and other
beliefs and convictions. Mutual tolerance and respect are universal values we
should all uphold.
The Council strongly condemns all violent acts and threats against citizens and
property of the European Union, of its Member States as well as of other
countries. These actions cannot be justified under any circumstances. The
Council welcomes the statements by those prominent Muslim scholars and religious
and political leaders who have called for moderation and have spoken out against
the violent actions of a minority.
The Council expresses its full solidarity with all those countries whose
citizens, diplomatic or consular missions have come under attack. It recalls the
special duty of states under the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular
Relations to protect diplomatic agents and the premises of diplomatic and
consular missions. The Council calls upon the governments that have not provided
adequate protection to give a positive response to this end and to the demands
for compensation made by the countries affected. The Council underlines that
boycotts against individual Member States are unacceptable.
The Council welcomes the recent visit to countries in the Middle East and the
Gulf by the EU High Representative and the contacts which have taken place in
Vienna between the Presidency, the Foreign Minister of Denmark and Islamic
leaders. These contacts, including the call for renewed dialogue in the Joint
Statement by the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Secretary General
of the OIC and the EU High Representative of February 7, 2006, have demonstrated
how much common ground exists in this direction.
The EU and its Member States will actively promote dialogue, mutual
understanding and respect through all existing mechanisms, including the
Barcelona process and the Anna Lindh Foundation as well as the ASEM process. It
underlines the specific need for initiatives aimed at representatives of the
media as well as young people. The Council also expresses its strong support for
the Alliance of Civilizations initiative launched under the auspices of the
United Nations Secretary-General by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey and
welcomes the call for dialogue and mutual respect made at the meeting chaired by
the UN Secretary-General in Doha on February 25, 2006. The Council welcomes the
holding of a conference of European Imams by the Islamic Community of Austria in
cooperation with the European Commission and the Presidency in Vienna on April
7, 2006.
The EU and its Member States will play an active role in the debate on these
issues within the UN, the OSCE and other multilateral fora. The Council welcomes
the OSCE Human Dimension meeting in Kazakhstan in June 2006 on Inter-cultural,
Inter-religious and Inter-ethnic Understanding. It invites the Presidency,
assisted by the HR/SG, and the Commission to continue to look into ways of
working with partners and other international actors in the Muslim world,
including the OIC and the Arab League, to foster tolerance as well as respect
for religious and other beliefs and convictions. Particular emphasis should be
given to the role that free media and NGOs can play in this regard."
ABHaber 27.02.2006 Brüksel
Reuters Saturday, February 25, 2006; 5:10 PM
DOHA (Reuters) - The United Nations, Arab states and the world's largest Islamic body called on Saturday for restraint and dialogue to ease tensions over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
The cartoons first published last year in a Danish newspaper and since reprinted in other European papers have sparked worldwide protests by Muslims who believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet.
Dozens have died in violence related to the protests.
"All of us now join to renew our call for restraint and for an immediate end to the present atmosphere, which threatens to sow deep discord between communities, societies and countries," said a joint statement, issued after a meeting in Qatar attended by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"We deeply regret the offence given by the caricatures, as well as the loss of life and damage to property in several countries," said the statement issued by Annan and the heads of the Arab League and the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, who were also at the meeting.
The group said it would try to propose measures to help overcome the crisis.
"We urge everyone to resist provocation, overreaction and violence, and turn to dialogue. Without dialogue we cannot hope to appeal to reason, to heal resentment or overcome mistrust," said the statement, also issued by the foreign ministers of Qatar, Spain and Turkey who attended the meeting.
"We also reaffirm the right to peaceful protest, especially where deep hurt has been caused, and we acknowledge that Muslims do indeed feel deep hurt over the caricatures," it said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to meet Islamic and
European leaders in Doha over cartoon crisis
Published: Wednesday, 22 February, 2006, 12:38 PM Doha Time www.gulf-times.com
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a last-minute decision to address a meeting in Qatar on Sunday in an effort to calm violence triggered by the publication of cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad, his spokesman said yesterday.
Annan intends to speak at a session in Doha of the UN-backed Alliance of Civilisations and address issues raised by the cartoons and ways to combat extremism, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“He hopes on that occasion to meet with a number of leaders from Europe and from the Islamic world and to discuss with them ways of calming the situation and allowing a constructive dialogue between people of different faiths and traditions based on mutual understanding and respect,” Dujarric said.
Annan will participate in a Sunday morning panel on “which population sectors need to be engaged to try to bridge differences and combat extremism, particularly in youth and immigrant populations,” Dujarric said.
A Danish newspaper first published the cartoons last September, but Danish Muslim leaders brought them to the attention of imams in the Middle East in December and January. Many newspapers and magazines in Europe and elsewhere have reprinted the cartoons.
The cartoons have sparked worldwide protests by Muslims who believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet.
A group of ambassadors from the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference met Annan on Monday to discuss the Doha meeting – and their proposal to include language on religious defamation in a UN General Assembly resolution creating a new human rights council.
The amendment seeks to “prevent instances of intolerance, discrimination, incitement of hatred and violence arising from any actions against religions, prophets and beliefs which threaten the enjoyment of human rights...”
It also notes that “defamation of religions and prophets is inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression.”
The US and several European nations oppose the language, saying it does not belong in that text.
“It is unacceptable,” US Ambassador John Bolton said. “It is not a resolution that takes substantive positions.”
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday that the global row over the cartoons first published in his country had now evolved into a clash between the entire European Union and the Muslim world.
“This affair is not just an issue between Denmark and the Muslim world. It has to a much greater degree evolved into an affair between the European Union and the Muslim world,” Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen.
“That is why (EU foreign policy chief Javier) Solana has decided to travel around the Middle East, which I appreciate. ... The next step in this crisis will be carried out in co-ordination with the EU and at the European level,” he added. – Reuters
BRUSSELS, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The European Union has called on Turkey to mediate in the cartoon conflict with the Muslim world, saying intercultural dialogue could mend the differences.
The Austrian presidency of the EU has asked Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to present his ideas for long-term solutions to the row between European countries and the Muslim world over the publication of Mohammed cartoons, Danish daily Politiken reported Tuesday.
Gul will meet with foreign ministers of the 25 member states at a meeting in March where he is expected to push for the creation of an Alliance of Civilizations. The initiative, which aims at linking Arab and Western civilizations through dialogue about cultural and religious differences, was launched by the Turkish and Spanish premiers in cooperation with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The Austrian Foreign Minister also supported the U.N. initiative, saying it would be one of the best ways to strengthen the dialogue between Europe and the Arab world.
Turkey is the only Muslim country queuing up to join the European Union.
Alliance of Civilizations
meeting goes on without EU representation
There was no representation from the European Union (EU) countries at the
Alliance of Civilizations meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha this weekend.
The meeting focused on the recent caricature crisis stemming from caricatures of
Mohammed published in the Danish Jyllands-Post newspaper.
Coming together at the invitation of UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, high level
foreign ministry officials from many countries were in attendance, though
without attendance by EU High Commissioner Javier Solana, one important side of
the crisis was left without representation. An unnamed official from the Turkish
Foreign Ministry said "The West has not shown that it understands the
sensitivity attached to these caricatures, nor has it made actions to show it is
sorry."
Monday, February 27, 2006
www.hurriyet.com.tr
DOHA - Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin said on Sunday that the world needed projects like the Alliance of Civilizations, noting that the West and the Islam world should see the reasons that led to the cartoon crisis.
Addressing the opening session of the second meeting of High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations in Doha, Qatar; Aydin said that the initiative turned into an useful international medium to sort out critical issues by a moral and rational point of view.
Referring to the complicated essence of the cartoon crisis, Aydin compared the tension to icebergs. ''What lies beneath the first iceberg is prejudice and growing Islamphobic views (in the West). And there are many other factors under the second iceberg like unfair political and economic structures and past negative colonial experiences which cause alienation, frustration and anger among people (in the Islamic world),'' Aydin commented.
''Not only NGOs, but also leaders and institutions of the Western and the Islamic world should see these icebergs and they should develop and reform themselves to overcome the problems,'' Aydin said.
Aydin said that the High Level Group would form a concrete action plan within seven months and they believed it would contribute to formation of a deeper and broader respect and understanding.
Published: 2/26/2006 www.anatoliantimes.com
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, who is in Spain for an official visit, yesterday held an unscheduled meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The main issue covered during their talks was the U.N.-led Alliance of Civilizations initiative that is being co-sponsored by Turkey and Spain.
During the meeting, to which Gül's Spanish counterpart, Miguel Angel Moratinos, also joined, Zapatero expressed the importance that Spain has attributed to Turkey, the Doğan news agency reported, citing sources.
Co-sponsoring the Alliance of Civilizations together with Turkey is a sign reflecting this importance attributed by Spain to Turkey, Zapatero added.
As for his part, Gül said that Turkish and Spanish officials have agreed that the Alliance of Civilizations initiative should be extended.
Gül yesterday held a meeting with Moratinos concerning the two country's bilateral relations when the Turkish Daily News went into print. The two ministers were expected to have a joint press conference later.
On the first day of his visit following his arrival in Madrid on Thursday, Gül was received by King Juan Carlos I at the Palacio de la Zarzuela where he was accompanied by Turkish Ambassador to Spain Volkan Vural. Earlier in the same day, Gül met with Spanish Parliament Speaker Manuel Marin.
Spain has so far been a firm supporter of Turkey's bid to enter the European Union. The two countries' positively developing relations gained a new aspect last year when U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Alliance of Civilizations initiative in response to a request from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Spanish counterpart, Zapatero, to mobilize national and international action to overcome prejudice, misperceptions and polarization between cultures and civilizations -- especially Islam and the West.
Last month, in a joint Muslim-Christian appeal for calm, Erdoğan and Zapatero said all sides would lose if mounting tension sparked by publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers is not immediately defused.
“With growing concern, we are witnessing the escalation in disturbing tension provoked by the publication, in European newspapers, of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that Muslims consider deeply offensive,” Erdoğan and Zapatero said in an article in the International Herald Tribune.
Annan envisions popular
dialogue
Entertainers, athletes called on to
speak to east-west divide
By Peter Grimsditch
Special to The Daily Star
www.dailystar.com.lb
Monday, February 27, 2006
DOHA: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested Sunday entertainers and sport people should help heal the divide between Muslims and the West, especially in light of the widespread rioting prompted by the publication in Denmark of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammad.
"We need to engage in dialogue not only scholars, or diplomats or politicians but also artists, entertainers, sports champions - people who command respect and attention right across society, and especially among young people, because it is very important to reach young people before their ideas and attitudes have fully crystallized," said Annan.
He was speaking at a meeting of the High Level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations (AOC) in Doha. The AOC is a UN initiative, co-sponsored by Spain and Turkey, aimed at promoting dialogue and understanding between Western and Islamic societies.
The group met first in Mallorca last November, after the cartoons appeared in the Danish daily Jyllands Posten but before the row broke out. Its 20 members include former Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Turkish Minster of State Mehmet Aydin, Federico Mayor, president of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and representing Spain, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned, wife of the Emir of Qatar and Chair of the Qatar Foundation, and former French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine.
Annan said the AOC's goal is "to address emerging threats emanating from hostile perceptions that foment violence."
The UN chief added: "The passions aroused by the recent publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and the reaction to it, show only too clearly that such threats are real.
"The intensity of feeling that we have witnessed in the last few weeks comes from a deep reservoir of mistrust and resentment, which was there a long time before the offensive cartoons were first printed."
Annan argued that friction between the two societies was not the result of long-distance ignorance "but more to do with proximity."
He said "The offensive caricatures were
first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant
Muslim population and is not yet sure how to adjust to it. And some of the
strongest reactions - perhaps especially the more violent ones - have been seen
in Muslim countries where many people feel themselves the victims of excessive
Western influence or interference."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
The UN secretary-general also hinted at hidden motives for publishing the cartoons in the first place. "Whether or not those who published the caricatures were deliberately seeking to provoke, there is no doubt some of the violent reactions have encouraged extremist groups within European societies, whose agenda is to demonize Muslim immigrants, or even expel them."
Addressing specifically members of the High Level Group, Annan said he hoped they could come up with suggestions that would "really catch the popular imagination, so that we are not just a nice group of people agreeing with each other, but people with a message that can echo round the world."
Mayor, also a former director-general of UNESCO, suggested that the group should beam messages at events like the World Cup to be held in Germany, which would be watched by a total of three billion viewers.
Aydin said the group had decided to concentrate on five major areas to spread the word - the political context, education, media, youth and immigration. Although Aydin spoke of producing a "solid plan of action" in the coming seven months, the cartoon riots have put pressure on the UN initiative to reveal and put into practice some of its ideas much earlier.
Qatar Prime Minster Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani said: "Regardless of our cultural backgrounds we need much effort to grasp each other's values and culture and agree on red lines that should not be passed, whatever the circumstances and denominations. Before thinking of an Alliance of Civilizations we are in dire need first of reaching a mutual understanding of civilizations."
If the media was seen as an aide to spreading the message of mutual peace, it was also cautioned to take its responsibilities seriously.
A joint statement Saturday by the secretaries-general of UN, Organization of Islamic Conference and the Arab League, as well as Qatar's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, said: "Neither media, publications, nor places of worship should be used for incitement, or to spread hatred."
Spreading peace is not being made easy for the media either. Reporters were excluded from all discussions of ideas by the High Level Group.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other delegates at a United Nations-sponsored conference organized to discuss the global reaction to cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad said the row is symptomatic of larger problems between Islam and the West. Though most attendees agreed more dialogue and education are key to resolving growing problems, differences emerged over the responsibilities inherent in the right to freedom of speech cited by many papers that published the cartoons
DOHA, Qatar - The furor over the Prophet Mohammed drawings is a small part of an expanding divide between Islam and the West, or what international leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu describe as the ``symptom of a more serious disease.''
Attending a U.N.sponsored conference aimed at healing the deepening rift, Tutu and 19 other delegates agreed that key ways to bridge the chasm were reaching out to young people and providing more education. Even then, they agreed it would take years of dialogue and practical steps before the rift can be healed.
''What we face nowadays is not a clash of civilizations but a clash mostly caused by ignorance, arrogance, insensitivity and festering political differences that fuel hostilities,'' Turkish minister of state Mehmet Aydin said.
As the conference wrapped up Tuesday in this Persian Gulf state, more than 5,000 children age 8 to 12 demonstrated in Karachi, Pakistan, at a rally organized by Pakistan's largest Islamic group. They chanted ''Hang those who insulted the prophet!'' and burned a coffin draped in American, Israeli and Danish flags.
Tutu, a retired Anglican archbishop from South Africa, said the drawings published last year by a Danish newspaper were just a sign of a far broader problem.
''What has happened and the aftermath has been seen as a symptom of a more serious disease,'' said Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. ``Had relationships been different, one, the cartoons might not have happened, or if they had, they probably would have been handled differently.''
Although the 12 drawings were first published last September, they have since been reprinted and have caused widespread demonstrations in the Muslim world. They have also become a rallying cry in the West for freedom of expression.
The European Union on Monday said that although it regretted the cartoons were ''considered offensive'' by Muslims, freedom of expression ``is a fundamental right and an essential element of a democratic discourse.''
Opinions such as that angered former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who complained, ``We already have enough misunderstandings in our world today.''
''Insulting the beliefs and customs of people and religions is not freedom of speech. This is not only related to Islam. We must respect the beliefs of other nations and religions whether we believe in them or not. If we don't believe or approve of them, we must challenge them through discussion and intellectual undertakings,'' he said.
Tutu noted that freedom of expression also came with some obligations.
''Imagine if the subject had been the Holocaust and it had been treated in a way that the Jews had deemed offensive and the reaction of the Danish government and international community had been as it is now,'' he said.
He lamented the negative stereotyping of Muslims and wondered why North Ireland's Protestants and Catholics, the Oklahoma City bombers or even the Nazis had never been labeled ``Christian terrorists.''
'Look at the Ku Klux Klan, who use a cross as their symbol and propagate hatred against others and encourage lynching. And yet we never hear someone say, `There's an example of how Christianity encourages violence,' '' Tutu said.
'Alliance of Civilizations' Discusses Cartoon Row
By Cihan News Agency, Doha
Published: Monday, February 27, 2006
zaman.com
At the Qatar meeting of the 2nd High-Level Group, part of the Alliance of
Civilizations project, attention was focused on the cartoon crisis.
Both the Western and the Islamic world should have an insight into the real causes of the cartoon crisis, said Turkey’s State Minister Mehmet Aydin in his inaugural speech: “There is a real need for world-wide projects such as the Alliance of Civilizations.”
Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, said the cartoon conflict only triggered the tendency towards radicalism: “Anyone who thinks that someone is radical is actually unwittingly choosing another form of radicalism.” The summit of Wise-men Group ended with the proposition that freedom of thought should not be used to expand feelings of hatred.
A joint statement, read by Annan, called for calm and adherence to common sense, as the current crisis over the cartoons only helped create deep gulfs between societies.
Freedom of expression is a universal value, said the secretary. “We beseech everyone to use this right responsibly, and to avoid using it as a tool for swelling hatred or insult in society.”
Kofi Annan
arrives in Doha
posted:
February 25, 2006 http://english.bna.bh
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in Spain believe the problems over the recent publication of certain cartoons suggest a direct conflict of faiths, according to a poll by Instituto Opina released by Cadena Ser. 68.1 per cent of respondents think the events reflect a clash of civilizations.
On Sept. 30, 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten accompanied an article on censorship and freedom of the press with 12 cartoons depicting Muslim prophet Mohammed. The two most contentious drawings show Mohammed with a bomb for a turban, and greeting suicide bombers in heaven. 48.6 per cent of respondents support the publication of the cartoons citing freedom of speech, while 36.4 per cent are opposed because they are offensive to Muslims.
In January and February, several European newspapers and media outlets decided to re-print the cartoons. Public protests have occurred in more than a dozen countries, and the embassies of Denmark and Norway in Syria—as well as the Danish consulate in Lebanon and an Italian consulate in Libya—have been torched by mobs.
Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero first introduced the concept of an Alliance of Civilizations in 2004, saying the group—which includes Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan—seeks to "stop all sources of extremism" and "win the battle of ideas and principles." 52 per cent of respondents in Spain believe the cartoon controversy justifies the alliance.
Polling Data
Do you think what has taken place following the publication of the cartoons depicting Muslim prophet Mohammed reflects a clash of civilizations?
| Yes | 68.1% |
| No | 15.6% |
| Not sure | 14.3% |
The publication of these cartoons in a Danish newspaper made many Muslims angry. What is your opinion on these cartoons?
| In favour of their publication, because freedom of speech takes precedence over religious beliefs |
48.6% |
| Opposed to their publication, because they are an offence to the religious faith of Muslims |
36.4% |
| Not sure | 13.4% |
Do you think conflicts such as this one justify the Alliance of Civilizations?
| Yes | 52.0% |
| No | 23.0% |
| Not sure | 21.9% |
Source: Instituto Opina / Cadena Ser
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Spanish adults, conducted on
Feb. 16, 2006. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
Annan will address the issues raised by the caricatures and emphasize his opposition to the violent outbursts and the need for tolerance at a previously planned meeting of the UN-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.
"He hopes . . . to meet with a number of leaders from Europe and from the Islamic world and to discuss with them ways of calming the situation and allowing a constructive dialogue between people of different faiths and traditions based on mutual understanding and respect," Dujarric said.
Annan met the ambassadors of half a dozen countries in the Organization of Islamic Conference Monday evening to discuss the Feb. 26-28 meeting in Qatar's capital, Doha. They also discussed a proposal by the 57-member group of Muslim countries to include language against "the defamation of religions and prophets" in a draft resolution that would create a new Human Rights Council.
Annan launched the Alliance of Civilizations initiative to overcome prejudice, misperceptions and polarization between cultures and civilizations - especially Islam and the West.
The Doha meeting will be the second of some 20 religious, political and cultural experts have tasked with drawing up a list of concrete proposals for the UN by the end of 2006 on ways to counter extremism and promote respect between civilizations and cultures.
At the group's first meeting in Spain in November, experts warned that people and countries must rethink how they view and treat each other before it was too late and violence erupted.
Group members include South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami, former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, and New York rabbi Arthur Schneier, founder of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.
Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram said the issue isn't just about the 12 cartoons published in September by the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten, which have sparked rioting and protests against the West.
"It's about respect for each other, respect for religions and cultures - and I think this is an issue that's been highlighted by the cartoons," he said. "We have to find some way to calm the situation down, make sure it doesn't reoccur, and we have to find the right way to do it."
Jyllands-Posten has apologized for offending Muslims, but has defended its decision to print the cartoons, citing freedom of speech.
One stumbling block in the resolution to create a Human Rights Council is the language proposed by the OIC that would "prevent instances of intolerance, discrimination, incitement of hatred and violence arising from any action against religions, prophets, and beliefs."
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said last week the OIC's proposals were "unacceptable."
General Assembly President Jan Eliasson is expected to issue a new draft this week, and Alsaidi said the secretary-general hopes the resolution will be adopted before the end of the month.
The council is to replace the current Human Rights Commission, which has been widely criticized as an irrelevant body that is powerless to stamp out abuses because its members include some of the worst offenders and it has no mandate to punish violators. Members in recent years have included Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe and Cuba.
The current draft resolution calls for the 53-member Human Rights Commission to wrap up its work at its next session in Geneva beginning in mid-March.
Annan to Address Muhammad Cartoon Crisis
 |
| Kofi Annan |
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is making an unexpected trip to the Middle East this week in a personal effort to calm Muslims' violent reaction to cartoons that insult the Prophet Muhammad.
A United Nations spokesman in New York says Mr. Annan made a last-minute decision late Monday to travel to the Gulf to take part in the Alliance of Civilizations. The gathering in Doha, Qatar is intended to counter prejudice and overcome misunderstandings between different cultures and religions.
The secretary-general will be in Qatar Sunday for the opening session of the U.N.-sponsored meeting. Mr. Annan intends to address issues raised by the recent publication of caricatures portraying Muhammad as a terrorist, his spokesman says, and he will call for mutual understanding and respect between people of different faiths and traditions.
The U.N. chief hopes to meet with a number of European and Islamic leaders attending the three-day meeting in Qatar. He also met Monday in New York with a group of about six ambassadors from the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. Officials say they discussed an OIC proposal to condemn "the defamation of religions and prophets" as part of a plan to replace the U.N. Human Rights Commission with a new Human Rights Council.
The Muslim nations contend the right of free expression should not include statements or actions that defame religious groups.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
From our correspondentQatar PM, Annan to open meeting on civilisations
The AOC was launched by the UN in response to an initiative from the Spanish and Turkish prime ministers, and the first meeting of the high-level group was held in Spain last November with the attendance of Her Highness Shaikha Mouzah bint Nasser Al Misnad, wife of the Amir, Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education Science and Community Development and President of Qatar’s Supreme Council for Family Affairs. She will also be participating in the Doha meeting.
The AOC seeks to mobilise concerted action at the institutional and civil society levels to overcome the prejudices and misconceptions that polarise opinion and challenge world security. Four meetings were originally scheduled. The location of the third has yet to be announced, but the fourth meeting will be in Turkey this December.
Turkish FM to join EU, Muslim leaders to calm cartoon row
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will leave for the Qatari capital of Doha
on Saturday at the invitation of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
participate in a meeting aimed at finding ways to calm cartoon crisis.
Annan invited both European Union and Muslim leaders and officials to convene at
a meeting on the cartoon crisis in Doha. This meeting will take place before one
of the High Level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations on Sunday.
The UN's Annan sent invitations to Gul, as well as Austrian Foreign Minister
Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, Spanish Foreign
Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana,
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin
Ihsanoglu, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, and Qatari Foreign Minister
Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir al-Thani.
Sources have said that a joint declaration of the EU and Muslim world is
expected to be released after the meeting on Saturday.
Gul is also expected to participate in the opening session of the Alliance of
Civilizations meeting on Sunday and then return to Turkey.
ABHaber 24.02.2006
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
State Minister Mehmet Aydın said yesterday that the crisis sparked by the publication of the Prophet Mohammed caricatures in the Islamic world was only the “tip of the iceberg” and stressed that the reasons for the crisis were very complicated.
“Civil societies, leaders and institutions of the West and the Islamic world must see the reasons behind the icebergs,” Aydın was quoted as saying during the second gathering of the U.N.-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations in Qatar's capital city Doha.
Aydın said the cartoon incident and reactions to the cartoons could be likened to two icebergs.
He said centuries-old prejudice against Muslims was lying behind the first iceberg and claimed that “Islamophobic circles” fed a political approach based upon personal interests and groundless generalizations against Muslims.
“There are countless reasons behind the second iceberg,” Aydın said and drew attention to the presence of unfair political and economic structures and practices which he said was a remnant of the colonial period.
The minister said the West and the Islamic world should renew themselves in the face of sensitive, complicated and worrying situation in order to overcome the crises.
Aydın also emphasized that the world was in need of projects just like the U.N.-led Alliance of Civilizations initiative.
The Alliance of Civilizations initiative, launched in November 2005 by Spain and Turkey, has created a “high-level group” of some 20 members including Iran's former president Mohammed Khatami, former French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the wife of Qatar's emir Sheikha Mozah.
The group, which had its first meeting in Palma de Mallorca in Spain in November and will have two more meetings after Doha, is expected to come up with concrete steps in the autumn to promote dialogue between different cultures.
At Sunday's opening of the conference of Muslim and European leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on influential world figures to fight extremism and bridge the divide between East and West.
“Lofty ideas alone are not enough ... We need to develop sobering, but equally compelling counter-narratives of our own,” Annan was quoted as saying by the Agence France-Presse.
The secretary-general drew attention to the violent demonstrations across the Muslim world over the satiric prophet cartoons.
“At the heart of this crisis is a trend towards extremism in many societies,” Annan told the gathering.
“I very much hope that you can come up with specific, concrete suggestions for ways of carrying dialogue forward so that it can really catch the popular imagination; so that we are not just a nice group of people agreeing with each other, but people with a message that can echo around the world,” he added.
Annan said world figures, especially artists, entertainers and sports champions must promote the ideology of tolerance and understanding between cultures among youth before they are swayed by extremists.
“It is very important to reach young people before their ideas and attitudes have fully crystallized,” he added.
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik and the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy chief, Javier Solana, decided not to come to the meeting, which they had originally agreed to attend.
Gül meets with Qatar's foreign minister in Doha:
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, who was in Doha for the U.N. meeting, met yesterday with Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber.
“We would like to establish relations with Turkey at the highest level,” said the Qatari foreign minister.
Gül said Turkey also wanted to cooperate with Qatar in every sphere.
EU 'Regret' over Cartoons
By Foreign News Desk, Istanbul
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2006
www.zaman.com
The European Union (EU) issuing several statements about the publication of the cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammed and outraging Muslims around the world has for the first time expressed its “regret.”
EU Term President, Austria's Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik speaking to the press after the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting for EU foreign ministers, said they are deeply concerned with the developments that took place after the drawings were published by several European media organs.
"The Council of Europe acknowledges and regrets that these cartoons were found distressing and offensive by Muslims across the world," Plassnik said, emphasizing that freedom of expression is a basic right, but that religions and faiths must be respected accordingly.
The publication of these caricatures caused pain she admitted, saying that at this point, what needs be done is to look forward and revive the spirit of mutual respect.
Austria supports the initiative of the Alliance of Civilizations launched by Spain and Turkey under the auspice of the UN, she underlined. When asked why the EU did not join the Alliance of Civilizations meeting held in Doha, Austrian foreign minister reminded that "Spain, playing a part in the initiative of the Alliance of Civilizations, is an EU member."
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos suggested holding an international news conference to prevent a new cartoon crisis.
A news story appearing in the Spanish press reflected that the Spanish foreign minister made this suggestion during his talks with leaders at the Alliance of Civilizations meeting held in Qatar. The minister also suggested that the Erasmus exchange program in Europe be extended to included students from different religions as well.
No apology but support for dialogue from Rasmussen
Turkish PM gets letter from Danish counterpart Rasmussen on cartoon crisis.
Danish PM provides no apology to Erdogan over row, but says his govt condemns
any action meant to demonize groups on the basis of religion. Rasmussen also
expresses support for Turkey's efforts in Alliance of Civilizations.
Danish Foreign Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in a letter to his Turkish
counterpart late last week, expressed support for Turkey's efforts to defuse the
Muhammed cartoon crow, but stopped short of apologizing for his government's
role in the crisis, sources told the ABHaber.
Rasmussen is one of the first European leaders to reply to Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's letter to world leaders early this month.
Erdogan sent letters to countries of the United Nations, NATO and the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, calling on them to act with wisdom and
common sense, and display leadership.
Rasmussen's reply to Erdogan did not voice any apology, a diplomatic source told
ABHaber on Sunday. But the Danish prime minister stressed that his government
condemns any expression, action or indication that attempts to demonize groups
on the basis of their religion or ethnic background.
Rasmussen also expressed support for the Turkish government's efforts to defuse
the cartoon crisis and establish better dialogue between the West and the Muslim
world through the Alliance of Civilizations initiative.
The Turkish ambassador to Copenhagen was one of the 11 ambassadors from members
of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) who demanded to see the
Danish prime minister last October to ask him to intervene in the cartoon row.
Rasmussen refused to meet the ambassadors and said that he could not take an
initiative on this issue, citing freedom of press.
Moller, Gul to meet
Per Stig Moller, the Danish foreign minister, will discuss the cartoon affair
with his Turkish counterpart at an European Union meeting next month. "Turkey
will, as an applicant country, be present at the informal meeting of foreign
ministers on March 11 and 12. In connection with that I have proposed to the
Turkish foreign minister that he raise the matter there," Moller said last week.
ABHaber 27.02.2006 The New Anatolian
Cartoon issue to be raised in Bush-Musharraf meeting
ISLAMABAD www.onlinenews.com.pk
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Wednesday said issue of publication
of sacrilegious caricatures would be raised on President Bush’s visit to
Pakistan.
In a press conference at the Foreign Office, he informed that President General Pervez Musharraf told the national security council in the meeting that President Bush who is the head of state of the sole super power and is the leader of the western world, would be asked to play his role in bridging the gap between East and West that has widened due to the publication fo blasphemous caricatures crisis.
Foreign Minister said that we would ask the US President to play his role to bridge the gulf that has surfaced between the Muslim world and the West due to the cartoon crisis.
Giving details of the National Security Council meeting, he said that consensus was reached only at the single point discussed that is of the cartoon issue.
All the four Chief Ministers along with the other participants appreciated the efforts made on the issue by the ministry of foreign affairs, he said.
Answering a question the FM said that Pakistan has led the Muslim world in raising the issue.
He told that it was decided in the meeting to raise the issue at international forums through Pakistan’s permanent representatives in Geneva and New York.
Replying another question, he said we have not called Pakistan’s ambassador to Denmark Javed Qureshi back permanently but he has been called for discussion.
He said that Pakistan government registered strong protest with the Danish government over the blasphemous publications in October 2005.
Mr Kasuri said OIC, UN and European Union would bring a resolution that will stress respect of all religions and religious beliefs and will prevent such future incidents.
We have asked our mission in New York to bring forward a strong resolution in the United Nations General Assembly, he mentioned.
Efforts are underway to engage and gather support of the OIC member countries for the purpose, he added.
He mentioned the steps already taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to raise the issue of sacrilegious caricatures at international forums.
UN, Islamic body call for dialogue to ease cartoon row
"We urge everyone to resist provocation, overreaction and violence, and turn to dialogue," said a joint statement, issued after a meeting in Qatar, which was attended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and heads of the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The statement also urged concerned countries to resort to reason to overcome mistrust and resentment.
It also reaffirmed "the right to peaceful protest", acknowledging deep hurt to Muslims by the caricatures.
The UN and the world largest Islamic body also called upon people to exercise restraint and avoid an escalation of tensions.
The cartoons, including one showing the Prophet Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban, were first published in a Danish newspaper last September, and then reprinted by publications in Europe and elsewhere.
The caricatures, seen as blasphemous by most Muslims, sparked widespread, sometimes violent, protests across the Muslim world.
Source: Xinhua Feb. 26, 2006 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn
OIC criticised for ‘apologetic attitude’ over caricatures
Staff Report Monday, February 27, 2006
www.dailytimes.com.pk
KARACHI: The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) came under intense
criticism from religious leaders, retired military officials and professionals
at a seminar arranged by local Urdu newspaper ‘Islam’ on Sunday.
The speakers demanded a boycott of western products, which, they believed, was
the most effective way to force the Western world to mend its attitude towards
the Muslim world. The speakers urged for international efforts to ensure that
all religions and revered personalities are respected.
Mirza Aslam Beg, ex-chief of the army staff, claimed that the United States and
the West were facing defeat. “Fascism and Marxism have already been defeated and
now it is the turn of imperialism led by the United States,” he said.
The general believed that Washington had admitted defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan
and predicted the emergence of a ‘Muslim renaissance’. He said the CIA had
trained 60,000 Mujahideen from 70 countries and according to his information,
30,000 to 35,000 Mujahideen had been trained in Pakistan in addition to the
60,000.
Mufti Mohammed Taqi Usmani, a retired judge of the Shariat Court, said the West
had coined some beautiful terms such as democracy, human rights and peaceful
co-existence in order to hoodwink people. These terms were dear to the west only
when they served its political purposes. He said freedom of expression had no
absolute meaning and criterion.
Barrister Akram Sheikh said 18 countries among a total of 25 members of European
Union had laws against blasphemy. He said even Denmark had a law against
blasphemy as section 140 of its penal code. “But this law has not been invoked
against the publication of blasphemous cartoons,” he said.
Referring to Article 3 of the United Nations charter, he said all freedoms were
subject to the responsibility that ‘no one’s feelings should be hurt’.
Hameed Gul, another retired general and ex-chief of the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), said the cartoons, human rights violations in Abu Ghraib
jail and Guantanamo’s X-ray camp, had proved false the West’s claims to
civilized values. Pakistan had handed over 700 ‘militants’ to the US and now it
was the West’s turn to hand over the blasphemers to Muslim countries to launch
legal action against them ‘according to our own laws’.
Dr Zeeshan Ahmed of the Institute of Business Administration said the consumer
boycott had changed the course of history in recent times. He referred to the
boycott of Shell and Coca-Cola by local people in apartheid South Africa and the
same type of protest by black people in the US during the movement of Martin
Luther King.
Economist Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqui said the republication of cartoons was aimed
at widening the gulf between Muslims and Europe as the Europeans had held huge
demonstrations against US imperialism and the attack on Iraq.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, the MMA’s deputy parliamentary leader in the National
Assembly, said that the OIC should emerge from its ‘ICU’ (intensive care unit)
and play its leadership role for the Muslim Ummah. He demanded that respect for
all prophets should be included in the UN charter.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s deputy chief Professor Ghafoor Ahmed pointed out that Muslim
rulers were not united over the cartoons while European countries had shown
solidarity with Denmark.
Understanding, respect for
values must: PM
Web posted at: 2/27/2006 4:1:7
Source ::: The Peninsula www.thepeninsulaqatar.com
DOHA: Various civilisations first need to grasp the values and cultures of one-another and agree on limits that should not be crossed regardless of any circumstances, Prime Minister H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani said at the opening ceremony of the Alliance of Civilisations, High Level Group Meeting-II that opened at the Ritz-Carlton here yesterday.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned. Also present were the First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, noted Islamic scholar Dr Yousuf Al Qaradawi, former Iranian president Syed Mohammad Khatami, dignitaries and members of the diplomatic corps.
In his keynote address, the Prime Minister said: “Current circumstances require from us a lot of in-depth and purposeful dialogue so that we can understand each other better in the East, West North and South. Regardless of our cultural backgrounds, we need much efforts to grasp the values and cultures of each other and agree on red lines that should not be passed whether the circumstances and denominations are. So, before thinking of an alliance of civilisations, we are in dire need to first reach a mutual understanding of civilisations and hence comes the importance of the role of dialogue.”
He called upon the HLG-II to draw the outlines and intended objectives of the dialogue while providing mechanisms to realize them in order to bring about an alliance and achieve its goals.
“It may be useful when arranging our priorities in this connection to think deeply of the youth categories that should the responsibility of the future we desire. Those categories should always be put at the centre of our programs as strategic partners in building bridges of communications and rapprochement among civilisations and I mean, education, culture, media and various means of communications that should accept the freedom of individuals along with respect of values and faiths, opinions and opposite opinions,” the Prime Minister said.
He said that all civil society institutions and related organisations should participate in such a dialogue, “ so that all societies participate in defining a vision for dialogue, exchanging views and identifying the values with which we could prepare a global agenda of priorities.”
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his address, said that the Alliance of Civilisations, when established last year, aimed at addressing emerging threats that emanate from hostile perceptions that foment violence. “We specifically mentioned the sense of a widening gap and lack of mutual understanding between the Islamic and Western Societies,” he said.
“The passions aroused by the recent publication of insulating cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), and the reaction to it, show only too clearly that such threats are real, and that the need for a committed effort by the international community is acute.
“Of course, the Alliance was not launched to deal with immediate crises like this. But the intensity of feeling that we have witnessed in the last few weeks comes from a deep reservoir of mistrust and resentment, which was there long before the offensive cartoons were first printed. In fact, this present crisis can be considered an expression of much deeper and longer-standing crisis, which is precisely the one that the Alliance was intended to address,” Annan added.
The third speaker at the opening ceremony was Federico Mayor, President, Foundation for Culture and Peace and co-Chair of the HLG-II. Mayor, in his speech, called for an immediate restraint to all reactions and counter-reactions triggered by the blasphemous cartoons.
He also appealed for an appropriate mechanism under the aegis of the UN to find appropriate mechanisms to resolve such issues in the event they emerge in future. Such cessation, he said, was vital to prevent a further deterioration of the situation caused by the publication of insulting caricatures.
In the concluding speech, Dr Mehmet Aydin, Co-Chairman, HLG-II, and a Minister of State in Turkey, said: “Behind the cartoon crises, and beneath the first iceberg, lie centuries-old prejudices, a kind of arrogant cultural mindset and maintained by a certain type of growing Islamophobic social milieu, and a political vision and praxis that seem to carve their ways largely through enlarged self-interests, unfounded generalisations mainly relying on exaggerated or even invented differences, rather than commonality that exists in all living civilisations.”
Cartoon row: Annan, leaders issue statement
Doha, February
26, 2006
www.hindustantimes.com
The group of leaders asked Annan to sound out the United Nations about a resolution banning insults to religion, the UN secretary general told reporters in Doha.
In their joint statement, Annan and the European and Islamic leaders said they "deeply regret the offence given by the caricatures, as well as the loss of life and damage to property in several countries" that ensued in bloody protests.
Appealing for restraint, the statement said: "We reaffirm the universal right to freedom of expression. We appeal to everyone to exercise that right responsibly, and not to use it as a pretext for incitement to hatred or insult to the deeply held belief of any community."
The statement was released ahead of the start of Sunday's conference in Doha of the Alliance of Civilizations. The leaders asked that the statement be referred to the UN Security Council, Annan told reporters.
Annan said he would brief the UN General Assembly on the content of the joint statement and it would be up to member states to decide whether to turn it into a UN resolution.
The meeting was attended by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Arab League chief Amr Mussa, and the foreign ministers of Qatar, Spain and Turkey.
EU seek Turkey's advice over
cartoon tensions
As the West seek guidance over how to improve relations with the Muslim world
following the cartoon demonstrations, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has
been invited by Austrian EU presidency to present ideas at an informal meeting
in Salzburg next month. "The Turkish foreign minister has been invited to open a
discussion on this theme at a meeting of foreign ministers on 11 March,"
Austrian presidency spokesman Nikola Johannes Donig said, according to Danish
daily Politiken.
Mr Gul is also expected to shed light on the so-called "Alliance of Civilisations" plan. The initiative for an "Alliance of Civilisations" was launched by UN secretary general Kofi Annan in July 2005 to bridge divides and overcome prejudice that potentially threatens world peace. The call for an alliance was initiated by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, and co-sponsored by prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
The group is expected to present a report with recommendations and a practical plan of action in late 2006 including a trust fund set up to finance the initiative and a high-level group of eminent persons to guide the scheme
Hurriyet February 25, 2005 www.hurriyet.com.tr
El Pais Spain | A. EATWELL / P.
EGURBIDE
Madrid / Rome
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed explicit support for Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's efforts to forge an Alliance of Civilizations between the West and Muslim countries, and has indicated that Washington may contribute financially to specific initiatives.
In a letter received Thursday by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Rice applauds the alliance as an initiative that "promises to facilitate greater understanding and promote democratic reform, peace and stability in the Middle East."
"We hope to be able to support projects for concrete alliances that are compatible with our own objectives in the Middle East," she wrote. In the letter, dated February 14, Rice points to potential US involvement in efforts to create greater cultural understanding in schools, establish links between academics and civil society, stimulate interactions between experts of different cultures, and use the Internet to reach out to young people in the Muslim world.
Zapatero launched the Alliance of Civilizations in a speech before the United Nations in September 2004, and has since been joined by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as co-sponsors of the project. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan established a working group last year to come up with specific initiatives, which is due to release a report later this year.
Until now, however, the US has remained on the sidelines of the initiative, which some Washington officials had viewed with reticence following Zapatero's decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq that brought US-Spanish relations to a low point in 2004. But Moratinos said during a visit to Rome yesterday that he had already noted growing US approval of the project, although he admitted that Rice's letter marks the first time the Bush administration has "explicitly" blessed it in writing.
"It is very important. But no one should be surprised... because all countries gave their backing to it at the UN General Assembly last September," Moratinos said.
A Call for Respect, Calm Reflection
By Recep Tayyip Erdogan & Jose L. Rodriguez Zapatero
Arab News, February 9, 2006 www.aljazeerah.info
With growing concern, we are witnessing the escalation in disturbing tensions provoked by the publication, in European newspapers, of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that Muslims consider deeply offensive. We shall all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this situation, which can only leave a trail of mistrust and misunderstanding between both sides in its wake. Therefore, it is necessary to make an appeal for respect and calm, and let the voice of reason be heard.
Last year, when the heads of government of Turkey and Spain presided over the launching of work on the Alliance of Civilizations Project, we did so based en a firm belief: That we needed initiatives and instruments to stop the spiral of haired and obfuscation that, in itself, constitutes a threat to international peace and security.
The unfortunate events that we are seeing now only reaffirm our diagnosis and our commitment to seek even more support for this cause.
Historically, Spain and Turkey have been at crossroads between East and West. Therefore, we are very aware that the way in which close contact between different cultures is handled can be enormously enriching, but it can also set off destructive contentions.
In a globalized world, in which the relationships and exchanges among different civilizations continue to multiply, and in which a local incident may have worldwide repercussions, it is vital that we cultivate the values of respect, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of our democratic systems and we shall never relinquish it. But there are no rights without responsibility and respect for different sensibilities. The publication of these caricatures may be perfectly legal, but it is not indifferent and thus ought to be rejected from a moral and political standpoint.
In the end, all of this lends itself to misunderstandings and misrepresentations of cultural differences that are perfectly in harmony with our commonly shared values. Ignoring this fact usually paves the way for mistrust, alienation and anger, all of which may result in undesirable consequences that we all have to work hard to avoid.
The only way for us to build a more just international system is through maximum respect for the beliefs of both sides. We are fully committed to observing the norms of international law and to the defense of the international organizations that embody it. But neither laws nor institutions are enough to ensure peace in the world.
We need to cultivate peaceful coexistence, which is only possible when there is interest in understanding the other side’s point of view, and respect for that which it holds most sacred.
These are the basic premises and main goals of the Alliance of Civilizations promoted by Spain and Turkey.
— Recep Tayyip Erdogan is prime minister of the Republic of Turkey and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is prime minister of Spain.
EU Ponders Stronger Ties With Muslims www.islam-online.net
BRUSSELS, February 25, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - European Union governments are considering a range of measures to build stronger ties with the Muslim world following the outrage caused by the publication of Danish caricatures that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
"The focus is on what we can do to promote inter-cultural dialogue and better understanding of each other," an EU diplomat told the German news agency dpa on Friday, February 25.
The new EU drive, expected to be unveiled by the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday, February 27, will focus on improving relations with Muslim governments but will also underline the need for better contacts between the two sides' media, youth groups and NGOs.
"We would like to close this chapter (of tension) and turn a new page in our relations with Muslim countries," said the EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The cartoons, one of them showing the Prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were first published in Denmark last year, and have been reprinted by newspapers in many countries on the ground of freedom of expression.
Any image of the Prophet -- let alone biting caricatures -- is considered blasphemous under Islam.
Responsible Media
A statement to be issued by EU foreign ministers on Monday will voice "regret that these cartoons have caused offence and distress among Muslims across the world."
It will underline that "free media are indispensable to a free and open society" but that freedoms "come with responsibilities."
European Union lawmakers on Thursday, February 16, called for freedom of expression to be exercised with responsibility but rejected calls for limits on media freedom in the wake of the row over the cartoons.
Muslim countries are pressing for a ban on religious intolerance to be part of the bedrock of a planned new United Nations human rights body.
A cohort of Muslim dignitaries and organizations are calling for the enactment of an international law banning the publication of any insults to religious symbols and values.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world's two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions following the publication of provocative cartoons.
Existing Initiatives
The EU foreign ministers' statement will also underline the EU's desire to "actively promote dialogue, mutual understanding and respect" with Muslim countries.
This will be done through the existing Euro-Mediterranean dialogue which links the EU to several North African and Middle East nations and also through the network of Asia Europe Meetings (ASEM).
The EU is also throwing its weight behind a Turkish-Spanish initiative for an "Alliance of Civilizations," which is also backed by the United Nations.
The Qatari capital Doha is on Saturday, February 25, playing host to a roundtable called by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Annan will chair the session and speak of the importance of the Alliance of Civilizations and address issues raised by the cartoons and ways to combat extremism, a UN spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Chief among participants are Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and EU Foreign Policy and Security Chief Javier Solana.
Qatar will also host Sunday, February 26, the second meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations.
The three-day event will be attended by a host of dignitaries including former Iranian president Mohamed Khatami, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Andre Azoulay; a senior aide to Morocco's King Mohamed VI, and outgoing Inter-American Development Bank head Enrique Iglesias.
Denmark has welcomed an initiative by Muslim preacher Amr Khaled to visit the Scandinavian country with a host of Muslim youth to engage in a dialogue with Danish youths and intellectuals and is planning a series of initiatives to build bridges with the Muslim world after the row.
The publication of the anti-Prophet cartoons have prompted Muslim minorities in many Western countries to champion local campaigns to raise awareness of the merits and characteristics of the Prophet in West.
IslamOnline.net decided earlier in February to launch a multi-lingual Web site to acquaint non-Muslims with the prophet.
TÜBINGEN, Germany
Has the controversy over the Danish cartoons finally proved Samuel
Huntington's theory of the "clash of civilizations" to be right? No, for
civilizations are not players on the stage of world politics, nor do they wage
wars; in many places, people of different cultures are living quite peacefully
together.
World politics is a matter for states and their leaders, as it always has
been. But they could make a mistaken theory come true through mistaken
policies. A war of civilizations and religions must be prevented. The question
is how.
De-escalation through dialogue. But are Muslims interested in serious
dialogue?
Such a dialogue is taking place, between individuals, groups and faith
communities in many places and at different levels all over the world.
As for the broad political scene, it was the former president of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, who as early as 1998 proposed to the UN
General Assembly that the year 2001 should be a "Year of Dialogue among
Civilizations." The fearful events of Sept. 11, 2001, for which neither Iran
nor Iraq were responsible, tragically confirmed the urgency of this
initiative.
The General Assembly session of Nov. 8-9, 2001 was devoted to dialogue among
civilizations. However, the U.S. delegate was notable for his absence from
this session. The public was virtually excluded from the debate for "security
reasons." The media took hardly any notice of it. So we can turn the question
round: does the West want a serious dialogue with Muslims at all?
Western self-criticism is called for. But isn't it the Muslims who primarily
have cause for self-criticism?
More and more Muslims today are recognizing the difficult situation of the
Muslim world and are engaging in self-criticism. Since the publication of
three Arab Human Development Reports in recent years, commissioned by the
United Nations and the Arab League and produced by around 50 Arab academics,
no one can deny that the Arab world in particular is heading for a social,
political and economic crisis.
But the West shares the responsibility for this situation. It should honestly
reflect on itself instead of always pointing the finger at "Islam." In many
cases Western states and companies have notoriously played a part in failed
developments and abuses. We in the West have every reason for a
self-examination which must go below the surface of current events.
Relaxing tension by recognizing deeper-seated causes. But wasn't the
indignation of Muslims over the cartoons organized, and isn't every means
being used by Muslim fundamentalists to stir up popular anger?
It is true that for radical Islamist organizations and individual governments
the cartoons were a welcome confirmation of their caricature of a violent and
immoral West. They are like the pictures of torture from Abu Ghraib, where
human rights have been deliberately violated and Muslims deliberately shamed,
and can be used to exploit popular anger.
But it is also true that this popular anger could not have been exploited had
the West not created such a political tinder box that it took only a spark for
the frustration and fury that has built up all over the Islamic world to
explode. Every day, Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia see and hear about cruel
military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Chechnya.
Press freedom in a responsible press. But mustn't the freedom of opinion and
press freedoms be upheld at all costs?
Without free media there can be no democracy. But freedom of expression may
not be abused in such a way that it deliberately violates central religious
feelings and produces stereotypical hostile images - formerly of Jews, now of
Muslims. Press freedom entails being responsible.
If it is not permissible to defame individuals and to violate their dignity,
then one should also deal tactfully in the media with the great religious
figures of humankind, whether it be the Prophet Muhammad, the Buddha or Jesus
Christ.
A solution to the Palestine problem: central to easing the tension. But
mustn't Hamas first recognize the right of Israel to exist, renounce all
violence and subscribe to international agreements arrived at so far?
The Palestinians can likewise demand that first Israel must withdraw from all
occupied territories in accordance with UN resolution 242, refrain from
attacks by the Israeli army and comply with all the UN resolutions which it
has ignored.
However, that will not get us very far. More than 50 years of what in practice
has been a partisan policy of "mediation" by the United States in favor of
Israel has made the Palestinians, whose situation has constantly deteriorated,
doubt whether the U.S. really is an honest broker for peace.
The Middle East conflict is not at root a terrorist problem but a territorial
conflict. A beginning has been made with the Israeli evacuation from the Gaza
Strip. Peace calls for concessions on both sides, but above all from the
stronger. And today Israel, with U.S. support, is the strongest military power
in the Middle East.
The vast majority of the Palestinian people voted for Hamas out of deep
frustration at the corrupt and inefficient PLO regime, Israeli intransigence
and American partisanship.
It is a tragic fallacy to treat the new Palestinian government as a terrorist
organization and attempt to force the Palestinians back into a wretched
situation by harassment and by illegally withholding the income from taxes and
duties that is due them.
Strengthening Muslim forces for reform. But surely violent attacks on people
by radical Islamists and the occupation of foreign embassies and cultural
institutes are quite unacceptable?
Indeed such violence must be firmly resisted. Tirades by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran against Israel are to be condemned by both Muslims and
non-Muslims. But the vast majority of the Iranian people voted for Ahmadinejad
out of disillusionment with the previous regime of mullahs and in the hope
that poverty and the lack of prospects would be overcome.
The United States fatally dismissed the reformist president, Khatami, as being
the representative of an "axis of evil." So he did not have the courage at an
early stage to bring the power of the overwhelming electoral vote to bear
against the reactionary mullahs and their revolutionary guards. Here the U.S.
played into the hands of the fundamentalist extremist Ahmadinejad.
Preventive dialogue instead of preventive war. In view of the Muhammad
cartoons and the photographs of torture from Abu Ghraib, it is all the more
important that we in the West should not only propagate shared values such as
freedom and equality and great achievements such as democracy, human rights
and tolerance, but fill them with life through an ethic of humanity, reverence
for all life, solidarity, truthfulness and partnership.
On the whole the Muslims in the European Union and the United States have
reacted with restraint to these painful events and have attempted to have a
moderating influence on their fellow believers in Muslim countries.
I do not want the good relations between Muslims and non-Muslims to come to
harm, but to become deeper, even if that has to be through shared negative
experiences.
One possible way to prevent a clash of civilizations at local and regional
levels would be to set up interfaith councils in as many cities as possible.
Such councils have functioned well in Britain for years.
Composed of official representatives of the resident faith communities, they
could tackle issues which directly affect relations between faith communities.
In crisis situations they could act as mediators and prevent dangerous
developments.
The Rev. Hans Küng, a Catholic theologian, is an adviser to the United
Nations as president of the Global Ethic Foundation.
As the current violence between
Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq attests, the most virulent forms of civil violence
for the last 500 years have taken place within religions, not between them.
TOMAS HOPKINS PRIMEAU
Havana, Cuba
>>>>>>>>
Ferguson's example of the Caucasus
as validation of "the clash of civilizations" thesis misses the mark. The region
is a patchwork of ethnic groups, some Orthodox, some Muslim (many only nominally
either) and some a mixture of the two. But of the many inter- and intrastate
conflicts, only a few fall neatly into Huntington's framework, and the region's
principal security axes make mincemeat of it. With apologies for the crude
labels — Orthodox Russia and Armenia are in league with Shiite Iran, arrayed
against Shiite Azerbaijan, Orthodox Georgia and Sunni Turkey. Like politics, all
grievances here are local.
JONATHAN KULICK
Tbilisi, Georgia
Islam and the West: Conflict or
cohesion?
by Khalid Amayreh
Saturday 04 March 2006 1:20 AM GMT
The recent crisis over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist has highlighted the misunderstanding and cultural divide between Islam and the West.
Author and human rights activist Mahmoud Nammoura, who has written two books on Islam-West relations, believes the cartoons reveal a "cultural disharmony" and not a religious clash.
"This is not a showdown between Islam and Christianity," he said.
"In fact, Europe and much of the West are now living in an era which might be called a post-religious. It is therefore not Christianity, but western cultural arrogance, that stands behind this growing anti-Islamic discourse in certain western circles," says Nammoura, a resident of the West Bank town of Hebron.
Bassam Jarar, considered one of the most prominent Islamic thinkers in Palestine, believes there is a knee-jerk reaction to Islamic communities asserting themselves in Europe.
"They [Europeans] can't easily come to terms with the fact that a militarily and politically defeated umma (community) is asserting a pro-active presence in the heart of the West and is aspiring to present itself as an alternative to western civilisation."
Conflict of civilisations
When asked if the crisis was a vindication of Samuel Huntington's theory of conflict of civilisations, Jarar said: "It is not inevitable if they are (westerners) faithful to democracy. Let them allow the free market of ideas to take its course."
Jarar believes that while the cartoon crisis has a negative aura, and might rekindle old prejudices, it will eventually have a positive income.
"I believe this is going to be a good lesson for both Muslims and Westerners. It might lead to a greater understanding in the long range."
But Father Peter DuBrul of Bethlehem University, a Catholic University funded by the Vatican, believes the causes of anti-Muslim attitudes are rooted in the complex history between Islam and Christianity.
"As you know, a Christian who has not seriously studied Islam cannot take the Holy Quran at face value; there are too many contradictions to Christian beliefs."
Reduced to stereotype
DuBrul believes it is wrong to overlook or marginalise the religious dimension in the West-Islam relationship, saying the term "post-religious" may be a misnomer.
"I think the west is more religious than some Muslims would think and the Muslim east is more secular than some Muslims would admit ..."
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Western-Muslim
understanding |
Nonetheless, DuBrul, who has been living in the West Bank for many years, believes that despite recent drawbacks western-Muslim understanding can be achieved.
"The Islamic mission to the world comes into conflict with other missions, and such 'missions' have much to learn from one another," he said.
"We are in the process of learning now, very painfully. The enemy is always reduced to a stereotype [that] is easier to kill."
Early seeds of divide
The using of stereotypes to demonise Islam can be traced to early Western Christian perceptions of Muslims in the Middle Ages.
In Chanson de Roland, a medieval French epic of the Crusades, the poet envisioned Islam as an unholy trinity of the Prophet Muhammad and two demons Appolin and Tervagant.
The crusades by the Franks against the Muslim East did succeed in demythologising some of Western perceptions of Islam.
For many centuries, both Eastern and Western Christendom called Muslims Saracens. In the Iberian Peninsula, they called Muslims Moors, and people of the Iberian culture continued to call all Muslims "Moors" even if they met them in South East Asia. (e.g. the Moro Liberation Front in the Southern Philippines).
In Most of Europe, Muslims were called Turks, and a convert to Islam was said to have "turned Turk" even if the conversion took place in a place as far away as India.
Europe and the Quran
In 1649, the first English translation of the Quran was published in London by Alexander Ross who based his research on a 1647 French translation by Andre du Tyer, the French consol in Egypt.
Ross, who did not speak Arabic, added an appendix to his "translation" of the Quran:
"Good reader, the great Arabian Imposter now at least after a thousand years, is … arrived in England, and his Alcoran, or Gallimaufry of Errors (a brat as deformed as the parents, and as full of heresies as his scald-head was of scurffe) hath learned to speak English … so should the reading of this Alcoran excite us both to bless God’s judgments, who suffers so many countries to be blinded and inslaved with this misshapen issue of Mahomets braine."
|
"They [Europeans] can't easily come to terms with the
fact that a militarily and politically defeated umma (community) is
asserting a pro-active presence in the heart of the West and is aspiring to
present itself as an alternative to western civilisation" |
Although Ross's conceptualisation of Islam reflected the overall European rejection and fear of it, a few of his contemporaries treated Islam much more objectively.
Henry Stubbes, born in England in 1632, wrote several manuscripts on the Islamic faith entitled "Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahometanism, with the Life of Mahomet and a Vindication of Him and His Religion from the Calumnies of the Christians."
Medieval Christian legends
Stubbes ridiculed the medieval Christian legends about Muhammad as "rubbish". Some of these legends said Muhammad was an epileptic, and that Muhammad's inspiration came to him via a pet pigeon which used to eat peas from his ear.
In "The Character of Mahomet and Fabulous Inventions of the Christians Concerning him and his religion," Stubbes presented a remarkable image of the Prophet, considering the general anti-Islamic prejudices and misperceptions of that time.
He wrote:
"I doubt not but by this time your curiosity will prompt you to enquire after the portraiture of this extraordinary person. His great soul was lodged in a body of Middle size; he had a large head, a brown complexion but fresh colour, a beard long and thick but not grey, a grave aspect wherein the awfulness of majesty seemed to be tempered with admirable sweetness which at once imprinted in the beholder’s respect, reverence and love. His eyes were quick and sparkling, his limbs exactly turned, his mien was great and noble, his motion free and easy, and every action had a grace so peculiar that it was impossible to see him with indifference."
Stubbes' ideas on Islam, however, were not popular within contemporary European circles and were not published until 1911.
God-moon?
The belief that Islam was at odds with the mostly Christian west persisted into the 21st century and reappear in US evangelical discourse about Islam.
In 2004, Pat Robertson, head of the Christian Broadcasting Network said in a speech in Hertzlya, north of Tel Aviv, that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians was actually a conflict between the Judeo-Christian God and Islam's God-moon.
Others have referred to Allah as a pre-Islamic Arabian pagan deity.
This type of discourse, says Nammoura, reflects fears by these evangelicals that Islam constitutes the main threat and obstacle to their dispensationalist ideology.
"They see Islam, not Buddhism, not Hinduism, not Judaism, as the main geopolitical threat, this is why they come up with this rubbish."
According to Philip Hitti, author of History of the Arabs, the Christian medieval image of Islam was the aggregate product of a confluence of streams of multiple sources in Syro-Byzantine, Hispano-French, Sicillio-Italian and crusading literature.
This literature conceptualised Muslims as pagans worshiping a false prophet who worked out his doctrine from Biblical sources under the tutelage of an Arian Monk.
Such beliefs were caricatured not only in religious and literary works, but also in art. Dante in his "Divine Comedy" was thus prompted consequently to consign the Prophet and his son-in-law Ali, to the ninth hell reserved for those who sow scandal and schism.
Gradual change
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Christianity and Islam
differ on |
But with industrialisation western perceptions of Islam began to change slowly as more Europeans came in contact with Muslims. However, these perceptions remained basically negative due to the fundamental doctrinal differences between Islam and Christianity.
However, with the rise of Orientalism in the late 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans (and some Americans) began to view the world of Islam less imaginatively.
Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, European powers occupied or came to control the bulk of Muslim lands in the Middle East. At this time, European attitudes changed from fear and hatred to patronisation and contempt.
Although European occupation of the Arab lands was seen mainly within the framework of European colonial expansionism, its religious dimensions remained.
British General Edmund Allenby's capture of Jerusalem on 10 December 1917 was considered a "Christian" victory against the Turks.
An article published in 1917 in the Catholic magazine "America" captioned "Crusaders in Khaki," and celebrated that the Holy Land was finally in Christian hands.
But Father DuBrul believes such attitudes deepen the cultural divide and must be challenged.
He urges stereotypes be replaced by discourse, exchange of ideas, self-knowledge, learning about others and prayers.
"If there is to be a greater understanding in the long range, it has to start with critical respect for the religious component in both cultures."
Aljazeera
By Khalid Amayreh
You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C89ECFF6-610C-460E-B0C3-B3DAD08DCD20.htm
Zapatero visitará a Erdogan antes de septiembre para analizar la Alianza de Civilizaciones en su tramo final
El ministro turco de Exteriores insiste en que las caricaturas de Mahoma "han dolido muchísimo" al mundo musulmán
MADRID, 3 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -
www.europapress.es/
El presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, viajará a
Turquía antes de septiembre de este año para analizar con el primer ministro
turco, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, la iniciativa de la Alianza de Civilizaciones en el
tramo final del proceso, según anunció hoy el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores,
Miguel Ángel Moratinos, en rueda de prensa conjunta con su homólogo turco,
Abdulá Gul.
"Esstamos viendo las posibilidades (de esta visita). Una puede ser en el curso de este semestre teniendo en cuenta los elementos de agenda que puedan afectar. Si no, no (sería) más tarde del mes de septiembre en el que se llevará a cabo esa visita del presidente del Gobierno", explicó el jefe de la Diplomacia.
Moratinos recordó que el Grupo de Alto Nivel de la Alianza de Civilizaciones (GAN) tiene previsto concluir en ese mes de septiembre sus trabajos con una seria de conclusiones para que se pueda someter a Naciones Unidas. "La idea es que a mediados de septiembre podamos tener la reunión final del proceso (de la GAN) en Turquía, donde sería la presentación de las conclusiones", dijo en referencia a la cuarta y última reunión de los 20 miembros del GAN.
A raíz de la denominada 'crisis de las caricaturas', esta iniciativa de Naciones Unidas buscará propuestas para evitar casos similares en el futuro. El ministro turco de Exteriores hizo hincapié en que la libertad de prensa y el derecho de expresión son "fundamentales" en la democracia.
Sin embargo, puntualizó que la libertad de prensa "no significa atacar a las creencias o insultar a las personas", por lo que opinó que las viñetas aparecidas en la prensa europea sobre Mahoma son "algo erróneo" y recordó que el articulado de la Carta de Derechos Humanos del Consejo de Europa insta a "no alentar" acciones contra las identidades y creencias de las personas. "Nos han dolido muchísimo", aseveró refiriéndose a las caricaturas.
Preguntado por la polémica de la chirigota de Ceuta, Moratinos explicó que había informado a su colega turco de la actitud del Ejecutivo español al respecto.
"Es cierto que se han vertido insultos y el insulto es siempre reprobable. La Administración de Justicia tendrá que asumir las responsabilidades. En cualquier caso, este tipo de expresiones no reflejan en absoluto el sentimiento de amistad del pueblo español hacia el pueblo turco", concluyó.
EL PAÍS - Opinión - 28-02-2006
El proyecto de una Alianza de Civilizaciones, lanzado por Zapatero, va
desarrollándose y ganando adeptos; los últimos, el nada menor de Estados Unidos,
y ayer el de los Veinticinco. Ante la que está cayendo tras la crisis desatada
por las viñetas de Mahoma, es la única idea constructiva que hay sobre la mesa
internacional. Pero conviene que no lleve a una especie de pacto de no agresión
entre culturas que signifique una mutua protección ante la crítica, un concepto
indisociable del de libertad.
La reunión en Doha (Qatar), convocada por el secretario general de la ONU, ha puesto de manifiesto lo difícil de la situación. La Organización de la Conferencia Islámica sólo parece querer disculpas occidentales. La UE, por su parte, debido a sus diferencias internas al respecto, sobre todo por la posición islamófoba y antieuropea de la extrema derecha holandesa, checa y de otros países, ha sido incapaz de estar presente en Doha a través de la presidencia austriaca de turno y del alto representante para la Política Exterior. Sólo ayer los Veinticinco lograron acordar su primera declaración conjunta sobre esta materia, "lamentando" que esas viñetas "hayan sido consideradas ofensivas por musulmanes en el mundo", y recordando el "derecho fundamental de la libertad de expresión", aunque deba ejercerse "con responsabilidad" y "respeto por las creencias religiosas y otras".
En cuanto a la idea de Moratinos de promover la celebración de una conferencia o congreso internacional de medios de comunicación y religiones para prevenir crisis como la de las viñetas, parece demasiado improvisada e incluso preocupante, pues en el ejercicio de la libertad de expresión lo mejor que pueden hacer los Gobiernos es no intervenir. Y aunque Moratinos aseguró ayer en Bruselas que no se trata de elaborar "ningún tipo de código de conducta", la impresión que dejó en Doha es otra. Los sistemas de comunicación se han multiplicado de una manera incontrolable y las viñetas han circulado a toda velocidad por Internet, por lo que poco puede debatirse sobre este capítulo entre Estados.
Los promotores de la Alianza de Civilizaciones se reúnen en Qatar
El País (España) - Madrid,Spain
EL PAÍS - Internacional - 25-02-2006
El secretario general de la ONU, Kofi Annan, asistirá hoy en Doha (capital del emirato árabe de Qatar) a una reunión especial convocada por él mismo en el marco de la Alianza de Civilizaciones, a fin de publicar un comunicado de consenso entre actores internacionales relevantes sobre la crisis suscitada en torno a la publicación de las caricaturas de Mahoma en la prensa europea. Los convocados son España y Turquía, en tanto que promotores de la alianza, la UE, la Liga Árabe y la Organización de la Conferencia Islámica (OCI), además de la propia ONU.
El comunicado, que se está negociando en Nueva York, seguirá, según fuentes españolas, la línea de la carta firmada el mes pasado por el presidente José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero y su homólogo turco, Recep Taieb Erdogan, de afirmación de la libertad de expresión, pero también del respeto mutuo, la prudencia y el espíritu de convivencia que debe presidir las relaciones entre los culturalmente diversos.
España y Turquía estarán representadas en el encuentro por sus ministros de Exteriores, Miguel Ángel Moratinos y Abdullah Güll; la UE, por la ministra austriaca de Exteriores, Ursula Plassnick, como presidenta de turno, y por el Alto Representante, Javier Solana. La OCI y la Liga Árabe enviarán a sus respectivos secretarios generales, Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu, y Amer Musa. Annan presidirá en nombre de la ONU.
Crisis de las caricaturas
La reunión de hoy en Doha se ha gestado a partir de los contactos iniciados por Moratinos en los primeros momentos de la crisis, primero con Musa y más tarde con Ihsanoglu, a los que sugirió, por teléfono, que sería conveniente una iniciativa conjunta de representantes europeos y del mundo islámico para que amaine el enfrentamiento y cese la violencia callejera en los países musulmanes. Según fuentes españolas, la carta de Zapatero y Erdogán, su buena aceptación en Europa y la gira posterior de Solana por Oriente Próximo vinieron a confirmar esa línea de acción, que Federico Mayor Zaragoza, como presidente del Grupo de Alto Nivel (GAN) de la Alianza de Civilizaciones, transmitió a Annan, quien tomó decisiones.
La reunión ha sido convocada aprovechando la cita que el GAN tenía programada en Doha para el domingo. La veintena de expertos internacionales que integran ese grupo de trabajo encargado de traducir, para finales de año, los principios de la alianza a proyectos operativos concretos celebrarán su segunda reunión, tras haberse constituido en Palma de Mallorca, el pasado noviembre.
La Alianza de Civilizaciones, propuesta a la ONU por Zapatero en septiembre de 2004, se convertirá, de este modo, en la única instancia internacional que canaliza el debate sobre las viñetas y la salida de la crisis. La secretaria de Estado de EE UU, Condoleezza Rice, escribió la semana pasada una carta a Moratinos en la que expresaba el interés de su departamento por esta iniciativa y su deseo de cooperar con ella cuanto estén definidos los proyectos concretos.
ONU.- España quiere que EEUU financie para la Alianza de Civilizaciones un proyecto de revisión de libros de texto
MADRID, 23 (ATB Y AGENCIAS) www.atb-e.com
El Gobierno español tiene previsto proponer a Estados Unidos para su
financiación una serie de proyectos surgidos de la Alianza de Civilizaciones,
entre los que estaría la revisión de libros de texto en países occidentales e
islámicos para evitar prejuicios de tipo social, cultural y religioso, según
informaron fuentes diplomáticas a Europa Press.
El Ejecutivo de José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero asume que Washington no aportará
financiación directa para la Alianza de Civilizaciones --tal y como hizo España
con un millón de euros para sus trabajos y reuniones-- ya que el dinero pasaría
antes por manos de Naciones Unidas. Pese a ello, la Administración Bush está
dispuesta a subvencionar proyectos concretos que proponga el 'grupo de sabios'
de la Alianza de Civilizaciones en el segundo semestre de 2006.
España contribuyó por su parte con un millón de dólares al Foro de Futuro que
impulsa Estados Unidos en paralelo a la Alianza de Civilizaciones y que tuvo su
primera reunión en Bahrein a mediados de noviembre con la asistencia de la
secretaria de Estado norteamericana, Condoleezza Rice, y el ministro de Asuntos
Exteriores, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, entre otros.
Esta iniciativa sobre manuales escolares será, en principio, una de las
propuestas que entregue el Grupo de Alto Nivel (GAN) de la Alianza de
Civilizaciones a finales de año al secretario general de la ONU, Kofi Annan. En
la actualidad hay, por ejemplo, un proyecto conjunto de revisión de libros de
texto iniciado en la UNESCO a instancias de España, Francia y Marruecos.
Rice envió la pasada semana una carta a Moratinos en la que expresó por primera
vez el interés de Estados Unidos en contribuir en la iniciativa de la Alianza de
Civilizaciones. Señaló en la misiva que ha recibido "alentadores informaciones"
sobre esta iniciativa asumida por la ONU tras una propuesta conjunta de Zapatero
y del primer ministro turco, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ambos mandatarios dieron
inicio a finales de noviembre en Mallorca a las reuniones del GAN creado por
Naciones Unidas para este propósito.
"Espero con impaciencia el informe final del Grupo de Alto Nivel y la aplicación
de sus propuestas de trabajo para que nosotros podamos identificar proyectos
específicos en los que Estados Unidos podría hacer una contribución", indicó la
secretaria de Estado norteamericana dejando la puerta abierta a una eventual
aportación financiera de la Administración Bush.
Rice expresó asimismo su confianza en que esta iniciativa ayude a promover y
fomentar una mejor comprensión de las "reformas democráticas, la paz y la
estabilidad" en la región de Oriente Próximo. "Esperamos apoyar una serie de
proyectos de alianza concretos que sean compatibles con nuestros propios
programas de objetivos para la región de Oriente Próximo", anunció en la carta.
En concreto, apuntó cinco posibilidades: un incremento de la comprensión entre
las diferentes culturas, en especial en el ámbito escolar (en este punto se
incluirían los libros de texto); así como la promoción de vínculos entre
universidades, escolares, medios de comunicación y la sociedad civil que estén
interesados en promover el multiculturalismo; el aumento de facilidades para el
uso de Internet y otros medios entre jóvenes y grupos marginales; y la
convocatoria de conferencias regionales y grupos de trabajo que promuevan la
interacción entre expertos de diferentes culturas.
El portavoz de la ONU, Stephane Dujarric, anunció que también
participarán el alto representante para la Política Exterior de la Unión Europea
(UE), Javier Solana, y los ministros de Asuntos Exteriores de España, Miguel
Angel Moratinos, y de Turquía, Abdulá Gul.
También participarán los ministros de Exteriores de Austria y
Qatar, así como el secretario general de la Organización de la Conferencia
Islámica y el de la Liga Arabe.
La reunión se celebrará un día antes de la segunda reunión del
grupo de alto nivel de la Alianza de las Civilizaciones, que se iniciará el
domingo y durará dos días.
La Alianza de Civilizaciones es un proyecto de la ONU ideado
por el presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, y el
primer ministro turco, Recep Tayip Erdogan.
Annan nombró un grupo de expertos, entre los que se encuentra
el ex presidente iraní Mohammed Khatami y el premio Nobel de la Paz 1984,
Desmond Tutu, para que presentaran recomendaciones prácticas y vías para cerrar
la brecha entre el mundo occidental y el islámico.
http://actualidad.terra.es
Por Tom Heneghan http://lta.today.reuters.com
PARIS (Reuters) - Luego de apoyar los pedidos de los musulmanes de respetar su religión en la disputa por las caricaturas del profeta Mahoma, ahora el Vaticano instó a los países islámicos a actuar recíprocamente mostrando más tolerancia con las minorías cristianas que viven en sus naciones.
Primero, los líderes de la Iglesia Católica Romana dijeron que los musulmanes tenían el derecho de estar enojados cuando periódicos de occidente reimprimieron las caricaturas danesas del profeta Mahoma, incluyendo a una viñeta que lo mostraba con una bomba en su turbante.
Muchos musulmanes consideran como blasfemia cualquier representación de la imagen de Mahoma.
Luego de criticar tanto a las caricaturas como a las protestas violentas que estallaron en los países musulmanes, el vaticano vinculó esta semana a esos hechos con su larga preocupación por los derechos de otras religiones que están limitados, algunas veces severamente, en países musulmanes.
"Si nosotros le decimos a nuestra gente que no tienen ningún derecho a ofender, nosotros tenemos que decirles a los otros que no tienen el derecho a destruirnos," dijo a periodistas en Roma el cardenal Angelo Sodano, el secretario de Estado del Vaticano.
Prelados del Vaticano han estado preocupados por las recientes matanzas de dos curas católicos en Turquía y Nigeria.
Los medios turcos relacionaron la muerte ocurrida en ese país con la disputa por las caricaturas. Al menos 146 cristianos y musulmanes han muerto en cinco días de enfrentamientos religiosos en Nigeria.
"Nostros siempre hacemos hincapié en nuestras demandas de reciprocidad en los contactos políticos con las autoridades en países islámicos, aún más, en contactos culturales," dijo el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, arzobispo Giovanni Lajolo, al periódico italiano Corriere della Sera.
La reciprocidad, permitiendo a las minorías cristianas tener los mismos derechos que la mayoría musulmana, como edificios de culto o la práctica libre de la religión, está en el corazón de la diplomacia del Vaticano hacia los estados islámicos.
Diplomáticos del Vaticano argumentan que los límites impuestos a los cristianos en algunos países islámicos son mucho más sofocantes que las restricciones en occidente que los musulmanes desprecian, como la prohibición en Francia del uso de velo en las escuelas públicas.
Arabia Saudita prohibe todas las expresiones de cualquier religión que no sea musulmana y en algunas ocasiones detiene a cristianos, aún por practicar su culto religioso en sus casas.
Pakistán permite el funcionamiento de las iglesias pero las leyes islámicas efectivamente privan a los cristianos de muchos derechos elementales.
Ambos países son frecuentemente criticados en la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Naciones Unidas por violar las libertades religiosas.
FORZADOS A EMIGRAR
El papa Benedicto XVI señaló el lunes su preocupación cuando le expresó al nuevo embajador marroquí en el Vaticano que la paz sólo puede ser asegurada "respetando las convicciones religiosas y las prácticas de los demás, en una manera recíproca en todas las sociedades."
El Papa no mencionó a ningún país en particular. Marruecos es tolerante con otras religiones pero, al igual que otras naciones musulmanas reprueba la conversión desde el Islam a otros cultos religiosos.
Los cristianos iraquíes sostienen que fueron tratados con respeto bajo las políticas seculares de Saddam Hussein.
Pero algunos creyentes han sido asesinados, las iglesias incendiadas y las mujeres forzadas a utilizar la vestimenta musulmana desde que los grupos islámicos ganaron influencia tras la invasión del país liderada por Estados Unidos en el 2003.
Los cristianos sólo representan una pequeña fracción de la población en la mayoría de los países musulmanes.
La guerra y las presiones políticas desatadas en las últimas décadas han forzado a muchos de ellos a emigrar desde las comunidades de Oriente Medio, una situación muy similar a la ocurrida en los tiempos que precedieron a Jesús.
La secretaria de Estado de EEUU, Condoleezza Rice, envió una carta a Moratinos, fechada el 14 de febrero, en la que expresa el apoyo de su administración a algunos proyecto de la Alianza de Civilizaciones compatibles con sus objetivos en Oriente Medio, y destaca su importancia para impulsar el entendimiento, la paz y la estabilidad en la región.
Moratinos recordó que EEUU “siempre mostró interés en la iniciativa” aunque “después de mi última conversación con Rice, y dada la situación actual, la voluntad de participar se ha hecho explícita”, y destacó que este apoyo, “viniendo de Estados Unidos, es importante para mantener esta iniciativa en la parte más alta de la diplomacia multilateral”.
Rice telefoneó a Moratinos, que en ese momento se encontraba en Montevideo, con quién analizó la reacción que provocó la publicación de caricaturas de Mahoma, y le expresó su interés por las propuestas de la Alianza de Civilizaciones ante hechos así. Esta muestra de respaldo norteamericana se concretará, según explicó Moratinos durante una conferencia de prensa tras entrevistarse con su homólogo italiano, Gianfranco Fini, en la contribución a programas y proyectos específicos, como indica la misiva de Rice. “Saludamos el espíritu y la propuesta que hace la administración americana de participar en los programas y proyectos específicos que puedan establecerse en el marco de la Alianza de Civilizaciones”, dijo el ministro, quién calificó como una “buena noticia" este respaldo, porque "refuerza el apoyo de la comunidad internacional”.
Los líderes musulmanes españoles también se muestran partidarios de la iniciativa
El presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, se reunió en el Palacio de la Moncloa con un nutrido grupo de representantes y responsables de comunidades musulmanas en España. El encuentro supuso una primera toma de contacto del presidente con un grupo tan amplio de responsables de la comunidad musulmana en España. La reunión sirvió también para renovar el respaldo de la comunidad musulmana de España al proyecto de Naciones Unidas de la Alianza de Civilizaciones, así cómo para condenar nuevamente el terrorismo.
En cuanto a un encuentro entre los presidentes de los dos países, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero y George Bush, el embajador, como en ocasiones anteriores, dijo que gestionar la agenda del mandatario estadounidense no figura entre sus cometidos en Madrid.
Annan quiere aprovechar la cita de la Alianza de
Civilizaciones en Doha, la capital de Qatar, del 26 al 28 de febrero, para
expresar su rechazo a la violencia e insistir en la necesidad de tolerancia,
afirmó hoy el portavoz de la ONU, Stephane Dujarric.
La Alianza de Civilizaciones es un proyecto de la ONU ideado
por el presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, y el
primer ministro turco, Recep Tayip Erdogan.
Dujarric afirmó que Annan 'espera reunirse con varios líderes
europeos y del mundo islámico y hablar con ellos sobre fórmulas para calmar la
situación y permitir un diálogo constructivo entre personas de credos y
tradiciones distintas'.
Annan se reunió hoy con embajadores de seis países de la
Organización de la Conferencia Islámica -grupo intergubernamental de 57 estados-
para hablar sobre la reunión en Doha.
En el encuentro celebrado hoy, Annan habló también sobre la
propuesta de la organización de 57 países para emitir un comunicado en contra de
la 'difamación de religiones y profetas'.
Annan lanzó la Alianza de Civilizaciones, en respuesta a una
petición de Erdogan y Zapatero, con el fin de instar a la movilización nacional
e internacional para superar los prejuicios, las falsas percepciones y la
polarización entre culturas y civilizaciones, sobre todo entre el Islam y
Occidente.
Durante la primera reunión del grupo en noviembre del año
pasado en España, los expertos alertaron de la necesidad de replantear las
relaciones entre civilizaciones antes de que fuese demasiado tarde y estallase
la violencia.
Dujarric aseguró que entre los temas a debate en Doha figurará
el decidir 'qué sectores de la población hay que involucrar para superar las
diferencias y combatir el extremismo, sobre todo entre los jóvenes y los
inmigrantes'.
Annan tiene prevista su participación para el día 27, según su
portavoz.
El ex director de la UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza y el
ministro de Estado de Turquía, Mehmet Aydin, copresiden la Alianza de
Civilizaciones, que también cuenta entre sus miembros al premio Nobel de la Paz
1984, el surafricano Desmond Tutu.
A ellos se suman el ex presidente iraní Mohammed Khatami, el
ministro de Asuntos Exteriores indonesio, Ali Alatas, y el rabino neoyorquino
Arthur Schneider.
21-02-2006 http://actualidad.terra.es
Viñetas.- Zapatero recibirá mañana a los líderes islámicos de España, que apoyarán la alianza de civilizaciones
Las Entidades Islámicas y Justicia apuestan por promover la integración de los musulmanes en el ámbito de la escuela pública
MADRID, 14 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS)
El presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, recibirá mañana miércoles en el Palacio de la Moncloa a los máximos representantes de la religión islámica en España para abordar, entre otras cuestiones, la polémica suscitada a raíz de la publicación en prensa europea de unas viñetas humorísticas sobre el profeta Mahoma.
Se trata del primer encuentro entre un presidente del Gobierno español y los líderes musulmanes de España. En la reunión participarán el presidente de la Unión de Comunidades Islámicas de España (UCIDE), Riay Tatary, y su homólogo en la Federación Española de Entidades Religiosas Islámicas (FEERI), Félix Herrero, que trasladarán a Zapatero su respaldo a su proyecto de 'Alianza de Civilizaciones', para fomentar la convivencia entre la cultura islámica y la sociedad occidental.
Zapatero expresará a los líderes islámicos de España la voluntad del Ejecutivo de mantener una relación de "diálogo y entendimiento" con la comunidad de musulmanes que residen en este país, según informaron a Europa Press en fuentes de Moncloa.
La reunión se produce a petición de los representantes de la Comisión Islámica de España, que es el órgano interlocutor del Gobierno para el desarrollo de los acuerdos suscritos entre el Estado y esta confesión religiosa.
Según las mismas fuentes, Zapatero ve la "conveniencia" de analizar la polémica suscitada en el mundo islámico a raíz de la publicación de viñetas humorísticas con la imagen del profeta Mahoma en medios de comunicación europeos.
Previsiblemente, el presidente del Gobierno les trasladará el mismo mensaje de "respeto y calma" en relación a este asunto, que realizó hace diez días en una carta publicada en el diario 'International Herald Tribune' junto al primer ministro turco, Recep Tayip Erdogan.
LLAMADA AL RESPETO Y A LA CALMA
Por su parte, el presidente de la FEERI informó a Europa Press que el pasado viernes y hoy mismo se ha reunido con la responsable de asuntos religiosos del Ministerio de Justicia, Mercedes Rico en un clima de "plena coincidencia".
Según explicó, ambas partes coinciden en la necesidad de favorecer la integración de la minoría musulmana en España a través del desarrollo de los acuerdos entre el Estado, especialmente en el ámbito de la escuela pública, y en el marco de la Constitución.
Una de las reivindicaciones de la FEERI en este sentido pasa por garantizar la enseñanza del Islam en la escuela pública, así como favorecer el entendimiento y la convivencia entre las diferentes culturas, a través de la asignatura de Educación para la Ciudadanía.
Por su parte, el presidente de la UCIDE apoya la postura de Zapatero favorable al diálogo entre civilizaciones y entiende que "es muy valiente" al defenderla. "Independientemente de que haya problemas o no en el mundo tenemos que abrir un camino hacia la paz y la convivencia, entre todos los pueblos, culturas inclusive las religiones", destacó a Europa Press.
El presidente de la UCIDE recalcó su respeto, "al cien por cien", a la libertad de expresión, pero advirtió de que "todas las libertades tienen el límite de no hacer daño a los demás". "La libertad de expresión no es incompatible con el respeto de las creencias y los sentimientos religiosos".
CERCA DE 800.000 MUSULMANES EN ESPAÑA
Otras fuentes gubernamentales indicaron a Europa Press que la reunión de Zapatero y los líderes islámicos se inscribe en la voluntad del Ejecutivo de mantener líneas de interlocución con la comunidad musulmana, teniendo en cuenta que este colectivo asciende ya a cerca de 800.000 personas.
Según las mismas fuentes, en la reunión no se trabajará sobre aspectos puntuales sobre el desarrollo de los acuerdos, como la financiación o la enseñanza del Islam en la escuela pública, aunque Zapatero escuchará todas las demandas de los representantes islámicos.
Embajadores árabes en España apoyan código de
conducta internacional
Madrid.- En medio de la crisis por la publicación de caricaturas del
profeta Mahoma en un diario danés, el consejo de embajadores árabes en España
mostró hoy su satisfacción por los "importantes esfuerzos" de la Unión Europea y
de la ONU para elaborar un código de conducta que evite en el futuro hechos
similares.
El objetivo ha de ser impedir nuevos "ataques o insultos contra las creencias de
los demás", señala un comunicado hecho público después de una reunión a puerta
cerrada entre los diplomáticos que integran dicho consejo y los diputados de la
Comisión de Asuntos Exteriores del Congreso español en Madrid.
En este contexto, la nota lamenta "profundamente" las reacciones violentas
provocadas por la publicación de las caricaturas de Mahoma, indicó DPA.
En el comunicado, los embajadores "acogen con satisfacción" el contenido del
artículo conjunto en el que el presidente del gobierno español, José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero, y el primer ministro de Turquía, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
llamaron la semana pasada a la serenidad en esta polémica, y expresaron además
su apoyo a la Alianza de Civilizaciones impulsada por ambos mandatarios.
Los diplomáticos árabes confirmaron también su compromiso con la libertad de
expresión, siempre y cuando, subrayaron, "esté regida por la responsabilidad y
el respeto a los símbolos sagrados de todas las religiones", y destacaron el
trabajo iniciado por la Unión Europea en coordinación con Naciones Unidas para
elaborar un código de conducta en este sentido.
En la reunión participaron los embajadores de Líbano, Mauritania, Siria, Egipto,
Arabia Saudí, Marruecos, Libia, Irak, Qatar, Emiratos Árabes, Túnez, Jordania,
Argelia, Palestina, Yemen, Sudán y Kuwait así como el director de la Oficina de
la Liga Árabe.
El presidente de la Comisión de Asuntos Exteriores, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida,
calificó el encuentro de "histórico", al haberse tratado del primero de este
tipo que se celebraba en toda Europa.
2006/02/15
http://tiempolibre.eluniversal.com
MUJERES:
Lucha por igualdad no afecta búsqueda de paz
Por Tito Drago
MADRID, 17 feb (IPS) - La lucha por la igualdad de género y la libertad
religiosa no se debe abandonar ni considerarla un obstáculo para promover la
Alianza de Civilizaciones, "indispensable para la paz mundial", según Trinidad
Jiménez, secretaria de relaciones internacionales del partido de gobierno en
España.
La Alianza fue propuesta en septiembre de 2004 por el presidente del gobierno
español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, en su primera intervención ante la
Asamblea General de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas.
Después la ONU designó un grupo de alto nivel para llevarla adelante, presidido
por Federico Mayor Zaragoza, ex director general de la Organización de las
Naciones Unidas para la Educación, La Ciencia y la Cultura.
El objetivo, explicó entonces Zapatero, líder del Partido Socialista Obrero
Español (PSOE), es aproximar "el llamado mundo occidental y en este momento
histórico, al ámbito de países árabes y musulmanes" para "profundizar en la
relación política, cultural y educativa" y "combatir el terrorismo internacional".
En esa aproximación, uno de los problemas que se notan tanto dentro de Europa
como en países donde la religión islámica es mayoritaria, es la condición y el
trato de las mujeres.
En algún país europeo, como Francia, las estudiantes no pueden asistir a los
institutos públicos con un pañuelo en la cabeza y en otros, como España, sí
pueden hacerlo.
Jiménez, quien es también concejal en el Ayuntamiento de Madrid, dijo a IPS que
esa Alianza se debe basar en el encuentro y el respeto a la diversidad. Pero,
continuó, ese respeto no puede ser excusa para amparar la violación de derechos
humanos, "que son unos principios universales".
En ese sentido, señaló que en los países europeos, incluida España, esos
derechos se deben respetar a toda hora y en especial cuando se combate contra el
terrorismo, "que no se puede ni se debe atribuir a ninguna religión, aunque haya
minorías que quieran utilizarlas para esos fines".
Por otro lado, entiende que en países con mayoría musulmana, o donde el Islam es
una religión oficial, las mujeres también tienen derecho a la igualdad de género
y que, sin inmiscuirse unos estados dentro de las atribuciones de otros, también
deben ser apoyadas para lograrlo.
Sobre la Alianza de Civilizaciones y en medio de la polémica mundial desatada
por las caricaturas del profeta Mahoma representadas como terroristas y
publicadas en un diario danés, Zapatero recibió el jueves un apoyo expreso del
Consejo de Embajadores Árabes en España.
El Consejo está integrado por los representantes diplomáticos de Líbano,
Mauritania, Siria, Egipto, Arabia Saudita, Marruecos, Libia, Iraq, Qatar,
Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Túnez, Jordania, Argelia, Palestina, Yemen, Sudán y
Kuwait.
Al finalizar una reunión a puertas cerradas con la Comisión de Asuntos
Exteriores del Congreso, los embajadores expresaron su apoyo a la Alianza de
Civilizaciones y su satisfacción por el artículo publicado por Zapatero junto
con su homólogo de Turquía, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, referente al conflicto
originado por las caricaturas y en el que ellos apelaron a la concordia.
Los representantes del mundo árabe propusieron elaborar un código de conducta
que evite "nuevos ataques o insultos contra las creencias de los demás", al
tiempo que afirmaron estar comprometidos con la libertad de expresión.
Dos días antes, Zapatero recibió en el Palacio de la Moncloa (sede del gobierno)
a miembros de la Federación Española de Entidades Religiosas Islámicas, de la
Unión de Comunidades Islámicas de España, y de la comunidad islámica en la
región de Cataluña. en el nordeste, cita en la cual también coincidieron en
rechazar los insultos a otras religiones, defender la libertad de expresión y
apoyar la Alianza.
Sobre la posibilidad de proponer una norma internacional de condena a la
blasfemia, como se entienden son las caricaturas, Jiménez no se mostró
partidaria de hacerlo. Entiende que, "si la ONU no ha sido capaz de adoptar una
definición de terrorismo compartida por todos sus miembros, no es posible
plantear en ese organismo y otros internacionales la legislación sobre blasfemia".
En el mundo islámico hay voces que reclaman el derecho a que las mujeres decidan
si utilizan o no el velo o el pañuelo..
Houda Lemkhir, secretaria general de la Asociación de Estudiantes Marroquíes en
Granada, España, sostuvo que "entender a la mujer musulmana es en gran parte
encontrar salidas a la crisis en el mundo islámico, empezando por explicar
conceptos que ella misma glorifica, en lugar de cuestionarlos".
Citando al Corán, Lemkhir señala que las mujeres del profeta Mahoma empezaron a
usar un chal (convertido siglos después en velo o pañuelo) para dar a saber que
eran de la casa del mismo.
"Luego empezaron a llevarlo todas las mujeres libres para diferenciarse de las
esclavasà y éstas empezaron a llevarlo para no sufrir discriminación ninguna
dentro de la estructura social", destacó.
Posteriormente vinieron muchos otros cambios, pero Lemkhir espera que pronto
haya otros más importantes. Ese será "el día en que habrá mujeres ulemas (estudiosos
del Islam) y teólogas en el seno de las constituciones religiosas islámicas con
criterio de decisión y derecho a elevar la voz con un 'no estoy de acuerdo con
su opinión'".
También será "el día en que la mujer no se sienta obligada a ponerse el velo
para satisfacer a una sociedad de argumentos cuestionables ni quitárselo para no
sentirse discriminada dentro de una sociedad que se niega a entender que taparse
el pelo puede ser una elección y una decisión conciente y adulta", añadió.
Lemkhir concluyó afirmando que "sólo ese día la mujer musulmana saldrá adelante
orgullosa de ser como es y de poder elegir dejar de serlo". (FIN/2006)
www.ipsnoticias.net
Estados Unidos elogia la Alianza de
Civilizaciones de Zapatero
Condoleezza Rice expresa en una carta su deseo de
participar en los programas y proyectos
EFE/EUROPA PRESS-ROMA/MADRID
www.ultimahora.es
La secretaria de Estado de EEUU, Condoleezza Rice, expresó el interés de su país
por la Alianza de Civilizaciones que impulsa España, en una carta al ministro de
Asuntos Exteriores español, Miguel Angel Moratinos, cuyo contenido se conoció
ayer. En su carta, enviada el pasado 14 de febrero y cuyo texto fue divulgado
ayer por fuentes diplomáticas, Rice expresa el apoyo de su Administración a
algunos proyectos de la Alianza de Civilizaciones compatibles con sus objetivos
en Oriente Medio, y destaca su importancia para impulsar el entendimiento, la
paz y la estabilidad en la región.
El ministro de Exteriores español aseguró ayer en Roma, donde realiza una breve visita, que el apoyo de EEUU a la Alianza de Civilizaciones «no es nuevo», aunque la novedad es que se afirma por escrito, y señaló que este respaldo «refuerza el apoyo general de la comunidad internacional». La Alianza de Civilizaciones fue propuesta por el presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, ante la Asamblea General de la ONU en 2004.
La iniciativa, que pretende acercar a los países islámicos y a los de Occidente, está promovida también por el primer ministro turco, Recep Tayip Erdogan. El pasado lunes, Rice conversó por teléfono con Moratinos, que se hallaba de gira por el Cono Sur americano, sobre la reacción musulmana a la publicación de las caricaturas de Mahoma en varios periódicos europeos y le expresó su interés por la Alianza de Civilizaciones y por las aportaciones que podría hacer ante una situación como esa.
Moratinos recordó ayer que EEUU «siempre mostró interés en la iniciativa», aunque «después de mi última conversación con Rice, y dada la situación actual, la voluntad de participar se ha hecho explícita». Destacó que este apoyo, «viniendo de EEUU, es importante para mantener esta iniciativa en la parte más alta de la diplomacia multilateral». Esta muestra de respaldo de Washington se concretará, según explicó Moratinos, en la contribución a programas y proyectos específicos, como indica la misiva de Rice.
«Saludamos el espíritu y la propuesta que hace la administración americana de participar en los programas y proyectos específicos que puedan establecerse en el marco de la Alianza de Civilizaciones», dijo el ministro, quien calificó como una «buena noticia» este respaldo.
Mientras tanto, el portavoz del Partido Popular en la Comisión de Asuntos Exteriores del Congreso, Gustavo de Arístegui, mantuvo ayer que la iniciativa de la Alianza de Civilizaciones es un «inmenso disparate» y pidió que se vuelva a la noción de Diálogo de Civilizaciones que propugnó el PP y el ex presidente Aznar, en su última etapa de Gobierno. «Resulta chocante que el PSOE sea incapaz de reconocer, y más aún el Gobierno, el inmenso disparate de la Alianza de Civilizaciones. No es una iniciativa irresponsable y vacía como dicen algunos, sino una que tiene derivaciones y consecuencias potencialmente devastadoras», señaló De Arístegui.
España pide al Vaticano que apoye la Alianza de Civilizaciones
OPINIÓN Caricatura de la caricatura
EUGENIO DE RIOJA 19/02/06
La que se ha organizado -nunca mejor dicho- por una caricatura de Mahoma en un
periódico danés! Lo mas triste, empero, es que, a medida que aumenta el
desenfreno muslime, la democracia se vacía de demócratas. Viene a ser la
caricatura de la caricatura. Porque se defiende un pragmatismo que relativiza el
derecho a la libertad de expresión. Incluso, contagiados por la masa islámica
que acongoja, por no decir otra cosa, vamos en dirección contraria y en tromba a
por el cura Gonzalo Gironés, que ha escrito en la Hoja Parroquial de Valencia:
«El varón no pierde los estribos por dominio, sino por debilidad, no aguanta más
y reacciona descargando su fuerza, que aplasta a la provocadora», diagnóstico
admisible en cierto modo. Añade luego que las víctimas provocan por deslenguadas,
afirmación que si no es una tontería es al menos una incoherencia, aunque no se
debe sacar de contexto. Porque tiene razón cuando a seguido compara la ejecución
de miles de vidas mediante el aborto, pero esta verdad se solapa con el ruido y
la furia contra el ultraje a la mujer.
Las feministas se han movilizado contra el teólogo retirado Gironés y se me
antoja caricatura de los ríos de sangre que quedan por correr en los países
musulmanes. La cosa está tan que arde que la vieja confesión de Voltaire: «No
estoy en absoluto de acuerdo con lo que dice, pero me dejaría matar por defender
que pueda decirlo», que repetían un día sí y otro también los/las progres que
escorren al cura de marras, se convierte en esta caricatura de demócratas. El
arzobispo de Valencia se ha puesto a la cabeza de la turba. Porque la opinión
pública, convenientemente convertida en caricatura del sentido común, es capaz
de cambiar los principios. No tengo noticia de que los obispos catalanes hayan
dicho algo contra el derecho al aborto y a la eutanasia, diseñados ambiguamente
en el Estatut, para pasar de matute por la aduana de la moral. Unión Democrática
de Cataluña, el socio cristiano demócrata de Convergencia, ha encontrado la
anfibológica redacción tranquilizadora para su caricatura de conciencia
consecuente. Lo mismo diría para la caricatura de pastoral de los prelados
vascos apoyando las negociaciones de otra caricatura ominosa: el principio del
fin, según lo ve el presidente del Gobierno sin informar de ello al pueblo, que
tiene el derecho constitucional a una información veraz. La democracia se vuelve
caricatura cuando se ejerce el despotismo ilustrado. Todo para el pueblo pero
sin el pueblo. Y ni siquiera todo. La parte sustancial se regala a los catalanes
y a ETA. España se quedará en caricatura de sí misma. Porque la opinión pública,
incapaz de defender los principios, pide apaciguamiento a la horda y para
tranquilizar su conciencia arremete contra un cura que ha dicho una verdad y una
frase que, sacada de contexto, no pasa de simpleza.
Zapatero envió una carta para aplacar la ira del Islam con su partenaire turco
en la sedicente Alianza de Civilizaciones. ¡Qué caricatura democrática! El
primer ministro turco tiene problemas para devolver a la mujer su plena
capacidad de obrar. Y las feministas corren en dirección contraria no de un imán,
sino de un cura. Escriben Zapatero y Erdogan en el «Herald Tribune» y postulan
sensibilidad y responsabilidad. Una caricatura de dos primeros ministros
bajándose, sí que con elegante retórica, los pantalones ante la rebelión de las
masas islámicas. Los derechos humanos, base de la civilización occidental, son
sacrificados en La Meca. Los derechos nacionales, ante el altar de la nación
catalana. Y Otegi informa con mas precisión que ZP. Estamos ante lo que Spengler
llamaba pseudomorfosis, por comparación con lo que en mineralogía se denominan
formas cristalinas que adoptan apariencias ajenas al acoplarse a determinadas
cavidades. La democracia en España adopta una sustancial pseudomorfosis. La ley,
como un escollo, se la puede orillar so mil pretextos con la complicidad del
fiscal y sus obedientes funcionarios. Así el poder deviene en despótico. Los
poderes confusos del régimen democrático hacen de éste una caricatura. Solana,
en representación de Europa, visita los países árabes para apaciguar a las
turbas. La decadencia de Occidente comienza con esta pseudomorfosis de Mr. Pesc,
que va a pedir a la ONU que se condene la blasfemia. Lo pedirá el nacional de
una tierra donde la blasfemia es de antología.
OPINIÓN Las viñetas blasfemas y la
libertad de expresión
ALFONSO GARCÍA SUÁREZ 19/02/06
La publicación en el diario conservador danés «Jyllands-Posten» de unas viñetas
satíricas irreverentes con Mahoma ha desatado una furia desmesurada en el mundo
islámico: quema de la Embajada de Dinamarca en Damasco, asaltos a delegaciones
europeas e, incluso, muertes. Un clérigo musulmán declaró que los dibujantes
debían ser juzgados por un tribunal islámico y «ejecutados de acuerdo con las
normas islámicas». ¡Para qué tomarse la molestia de juzgarlos si ya le resulta
claro que deben ser ejecutados! Hay un doble rasero, una «ley del embudo»,
cuando la actitud de agravio de gobiernos, clérigos y masas musulmanas se
compara con la indulgencia con la que las autoridades de muchos países islámicos
contemplan las reiteradas invectivas antisemitas de su prensa de apoyo estatal.
¿Cómo puede el presidente de Irán, un conspicuo negador del Holocausto,
permitirse condenar al diario danés y a la vez subscribir un concurso de
caricaturas sobre el Holocausto? ¿Lo que es blasfemia contra Alá y su profeta no
es escarnio de Yahvé y sus hijos?
¿Cuál era la naturaleza de la ofensa? Tanto la religión judía como la islámica
han proscrito las imágenes de Dios. En el caso del Islam el arte ha estado
sometido al aniconismo: la prohibición religiosa de representar figurativamente
la criaturas vivientes. La repulsión hacia las imágenes se puede encontrar ya en
algunos filósofos griegos -en Platón y en Plotino- y revivió en la controversia
de los iconoclastas de la Bizancio altomedieval. No obstante, y en lo tocante al
mundo islámico, la prohibición ha sido atenuada a lo largo de la historia. Basta
visitar Topkapi y otros lugares para advertirlo. Las imágenes fueron toleradas
en espacios privados y harenes. Además, los chiitas han hecho profusión de
imágenes, incluso del profeta. En cualquier caso, ¿por qué los no musulmanes
habrían de someterse a un precepto musulmán de esa índole? Sería ceder a la
imposición de un elemento de la sharia a Europa. Sin embargo, todo cobra una
dimensión más espinosa si se tiene en cuenta el contexto político internacional
y el que una de las viñetas representaba a Mahoma con una bomba encendida a modo
de turbante, con la consiguiente asociación del profeta con el terrorismo. Así,
el asunto plantea al menos dos cuestiones. La primera es: ¿debe limitarse la
libertad de expresión proscribiendo por ley la ofensa a las creencias religiosas?
Sea cual fuere la respuesta a esa pregunta, surge otra: ¿ha actuado
correctamente el diario danés al publicar las caricaturas? Pienso que la
respuesta a ambas preguntas es «no».
El «affaire» es grave y plantea cuestiones de hondo calado en un mundo
globalizado en el que un incidente local se convierte rápidamente en un casus
belli mundial. En el caso de las viñetas danesas, el asunto estuvo larvado
durante tres meses. Luego algunos representantes de la comunidad musulmana de
Dinamarca viajaron a Oriente Próximo tratando de provocar la reacción de los
dirigentes locales. Para los gobernantes tiránicos de algunos de los países
islámicos se trataba de un regalo inesperado: les proporcionaba la ocasión de
presentarse como guardianes de la fe y de afianzar así su incierta legitimidad.
La reacción de la Unión Europea fue, para desmayo de Dinamarca, más bien
timorata. La quema de la Embajada de Dinamarca en Siria, un país donde no se
mueve una hoja sin el concurso o la aquiescencia de la dictadura baazista, ¿no
debió ser respondida con una retirada de los embajadores de los países de la UE
en Damasco?
Esta tibieza no deja de estar en línea con una cierta incapacidad, por parte de
amplios sectores de la «intelligentsia» occidental, de afirmar la superioridad y
el carácter irrenunciable de ciertos valores de la democracia liberal. Un
relativismo y un posmodernismo deleznables filosóficamente y, lógicamente,
autocontradictorios vienen presentando la defensa de esos valores como una forma
de «imperialismo cultural». ¿Pero es realmente tan defendible la dictadura
teocrática como la democracia parlamentaria? ¿No es el reconocimiento de los
derechos humanos un logro que debe ser extendido por todo el mundo? ¿Es el
sometimiento de las mujeres preferible a la igualdad civil de los sexos? ¿Puede
claudicar la sociedad abierta ante quienes, en algunos países, encierran a las
mujeres en el gineceo, practican la ablación de sus clítoris o las lapidan por
adulterio? ¿O ante quienes condenan a muerte al apóstata o al homosexual?
Entre esos valores irrenunciables de la sociedad abierta, la libertad de
expresión ocupa un lugar central. Es intrínseco a la democracia el derecho a
expresar libremente las ideas, a disentir e, incluso, a ofender. Como señalaba
no hace mucho el novelista anglo-indio Salman Rushdie, «la democracia no es un
"tea party" donde las personas se sientan para conversar educadamente. En la
democracia las personas se ofenden extremadamente. Argumentan vehementemente
contra sus posiciones mutuas. (Pero no disparan)». No es una mala
caracterización, paréntesis incluido. En su epístola conjunta «Un llamamiento al
respeto y a la calma», Erdogan y Rodríguez Zapatero pedían «máximo respeto a las
creencias». ¡Una invocación profundamente iliberal! Ninguna creencia es inmune
al escrutinio racional, ni siquiera las creencias religiosas. No son las
creencias como tales las que deben ser respetadas, sino las personas que las
tienen -y sólo mientras no dañen a los demás con ellas-. Hay creencias -religiosas
o no- respetables, las hay insostenibles y las hay execrables. ¿Acaso es
respetable la creencia de un mormón de que Dios prohíbe la transfusión de sangre?
¿Se debe respetar su «derecho» a dejar morir a su hijo en aras de esa creencia?
¿Acaso son respetables hoy el geocentrismo o el creacionismo? Con todo, hay una
regla de oro en toda confrontación racional: «Combate fieramente las creencias
de tu adversario, pero respétalo a él». Es un principio similar al viejo
precepto «Odia el pecado, pero ama (o al menos respeta) al pecador».
Un caso de violación de ese principio se dio recientemente en Gran Bretaña. Una
maestra, cristiana «renacida», venía enseñando en un colegio de un suburbio
londinense que el libro del Génesis contiene la verdad literal e infalible.
Preguntado por su opinión, el famoso biólogo Richard Dawkins declaró en la BBC
que «preferiría tener por abuela a una mona que a una tonta de capirote
peligrosa que corrompe a nuestros hijos con sus supersticiones de la Edad de
Bronce». Las iglesias evangélicas llevaron a Dawkins ante los tribunales y la
maestra alegó que sus insultos la habían convertido en objeto de ridículo y
desprecio en el colegio y habían perjudicado sus oportunidades de promoción. Los
fiscales concluyeron que Dawkins había traspasado los límites: no se había
esforzado en distinguir entre la maestra y sus creencias.
Erdogan y Zapatero invocan también «nuestros valores comúnmente compartidos». ¿Pero
es, entre otros, la libertad de expresión un valor comúnmente compartido? La
libertad de expresión fue una conquista de la Ilustración frente a las
autoridades políticas y eclesiásticas que ponían límites al pensamiento. Hoy es
un valor ampliamente reconocido en toda sociedad abierta. Con el Concilio
Vaticano II, la Iglesia católica ha hecho suyo el núcleo central de los valores
de esa clase de sociedad. Mientras el Islam contemporáneo no tenga su Locke y su
Mill, y también su reforma religiosa, la invocación de estos valores «comúnmente
compartidos» es huera. Ciertamente, compartimos valores democráticos con Turquía,
pero gracias a que el régimen de Kemal Atatürk derrocó al sultán y secularizó la
vida social y política del país.
Dicho lo anterior, queda aún el segundo interrogante: ¿fue apropiado,
conveniente, prudente, responsable, publicar esas viñetas? ¿Fue incluso
moralmente aceptable, en cuanto distinto de legalmente admisible? ¿Son realmente
ofensivas? La reciente ley británica contra la incitación al odio racial y
religioso sólo pudo salir adelante cuando tanto la Cámara de los Comunes como la
de los Lores lograron enmendarla haciendo de la intención de ofender un
requisito necesario para la comisión de los delitos en cuestión. El director de
«Jyllands-Posten» negó tras el escándalo toda intención de ofensa. Pero sus
palabras son difíciles de creer -al parecer, su diario se había negado
anteriormente a caricaturizar símbolos cristianos para no ofender sensibilidades-.
Sea como fuere, el uso de la libertad de expresión tiene límites. Oliver Wendell
Holmes decía que ninguna libertad de expresión puede autorizar a un individuo a
gritar «¡Fuego!» en un teatro atestado de gente. El mundo musulmán actual es
peor que eso: es un polvorín en medio de pasiones, resentimientos, fanatismos y
atropellos por unos y por otros. Al no tener en cuenta ese contexto, al pasar
por alto la susceptibilidad de muchos musulmanes en un tiempo en el que, para
bien o para mal -o para bien o para mal según en qué caso-, Afganistán e Irak
han sido invadidas y permanecen ocupadas, en el que el contencioso
israelí-palestino está ahí y para seguir, en el que el partido de centro-derecha
que gobierna en Dinamarca lo hace en coalición con un partido nacionalista
enemigo de los inmigrantes, el diario danés ha ejercido irresponsablemente un
derecho. Como irresponsable fue también la reproducción de las viñetas, por
motivos de solidaridad gremial, en algunos diarios europeos -«ABC» en España-.
La prensa británica actuó más sabiamente: defendió el derecho del diario danés a
publicarlas, pero no secundó una provocación gratuita. Todo esto no implica que
las ofensas a las creencias religiosas deban ser punibles legalmente o deban
estar sometidas a la censura. No se trata de prohibir o de censurar, se trata de
ejercer un derecho inalienable con sensibilidad y con responsabilidad cívica.
Alfonso García Suárez es catedrático de Lógica en la Universidad de Oviedo.
Cómo convertir la catedral de Córdoba en
mezquita
La Junta Islámica pide a Zapatero que impulse un
espacio ecuménico en el actual templo católico de la ciudad andaluza
I. Barajas / J. R. Navarro 25 de febrero
de 2006
www.larazon.es
26.02.2006 19:05
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Katar'daki Medeniyetler İttifakı toplantısından kültürel ve dinsel farklılıkları popüler kültürle birarayı getirme fikri çıktı.
Yaklaşan Dünya Kupası da Medeniyetler İttifakı için çok önemli bir araç olarak görülüyor.
Bu fikrin ipuçları Doha'da Birleşmiş Milletler Genel Sekreti Kofi Annan tarafından açılış konuşmasında verildi.
"Aşırılara karşı sağduyulu geniş kitleleri harekete geçirmeliyiz" diyen Annan, "Biz burada güzelce anlaşan bir grup insan olarak kalmamalıyız, bu mesajları popüler kültüre aktarmalıyız" dedi.
Ancak Dünya Kupası fikrinin somut olarak dile getirilmesi Real Madrid ve
Barcelona'sı ile ünlü İspanya'nın eşbaşkanından geldi. Türkiye ile girişime
öncülük eden İspanya'nın UNESCO Barış Kültürü Vakfı Başkanı Federico Mayor
2006 Dünya Futbol şampiyonasının mutlaka değerlendirilmesi gerektiğini
vurguladı.
Konferansa eş başkanlık yapan Mayor'a Türk Eşbaşkan Devlet Bakanı Mehmet
Aydın'dan da destek geldi. Aydın 5 kategoride yani siyaset, eğitim, medya,
gençlik ve göçmenlere ulaşılmasında yaygın kitlesel mekanizmaların
kullanılmasının önemine işaret etti.
Önümüzdeki günlerde Angelina Jolie, David Beckham ve Michael Schumaher gibi isimleri televizyonda Medeniyetler İttifakı mesajları verirken görmemiz hiç de uzak bir olasılık değil.
Pazar günü Doha’da Medeniyetler İttifakı’nın ikinci toplantısı yapılacak.
Toplantının açılışına katılma kararı alan Birleşmiş Milletler Genel Sekreteri
Annan’dan sürpriz bir davet de geldi. Annan, ilgili tarafları Cumartesi günü
Doha’da karikatür krizini görüşmeye ve ortak bir basın açıklaması yapmaya
çağırdı.
BM Genel Sekreteri tarafından davet edilen isimler, Medeniyetler İttifakı
projesinin öncülüğünü yapan Türkiye ve İspanya’nın dışişleri bakanları, Avrupa
Birliği dönem başkanı Avusturya’nın Dışişleri Bakanı, AB Dış Politika Yüksek
Temsilcisi Solana, İslam Konferansı Örgütü ve Arap Ligi genel sekreterleri.
basın açıklamasının ardından bir aile fotoğrafının çekilmesi de önerildi.
Gül’ün hem bu toplantıya, hem de Pazar günkü toplantının açılışına katılması
öngörülüyor.
VİYANA - Avrupa Birliği dönem başkanı Avusturya, Hz. Muhammed karikatürleriyle ilgili olarak Türkiye’nin arabuluculuk görevini üstlenmesini istiyor. Birlik bu amaçla, gayriresmi dışişleri bakanları toplantısına Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül’ü de davet etti ve konuyla ilgili bir konuşma yapmasını rica etti.
Avusturya’nın AB nezdindeki sözcüsü Nicolas Johannes, 11 Mart’ta
Avusturya’nın Salzburg kentinde yapılacak toplantıda, Gül’den Türkiye ile
İspanya’nın önderlik ettiği Medeniyetler İttifakı adlı eylem planı hakkında
bakanlara bilgi vermesini rica ettiklerini belirtti.
Krizin çözümü için çaba sarfeden BM Genel Sekreteri Kofi Annan ise, hafta
sonunda Katar’ın başkenti Doha’da düzenlenecek Medeniyetler İttifakı
toplantısına katılarak bir konuşma yapmaya karar verdi.
Daha önce toplantıya katılması öngörülmeyen Annan, İslam dünyasından ve Avrupa
ülkelerinden katılan liderlerle, karikatür krizini aşma yollarını görüşecek.
25 Şubat, 2006 12:49:00 (TSİ)
www.cnnturk.com.tr
İslam dünyasını rahatsız eden karikatürlerin
neden olduğu krizi çözmek amacıyla Katar'ın başkenti Doha'da bu akşam altılı
toplantı yapılacak.
Birleşmiş Milletler Genel Sekreteri Kofi Annan'ın çağrısı üzerine
yapılacak toplantıya Dışişleri Bakanı Abdullah Gül de katılacak.
Toplantıya İslam Konferansı Örgütü Genel Sekreteri Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Katar
Dışişleri Bakanı Şeyh Hamad Bin Casim bin Cabir el Tani, İspanya Dışişleri
Bakanı Miguel Moratinos ve Arap Birliği Genel Sekreteri Amr Musa da katılacak.
Daha önce toplantıya katılacağı açıklanan AB Dönem Başkanı Avusturya'nın
Dışişleri Bakanı Ursula Plassnik ve AB Dış Politika ve Güvenlik Yüksek
Temsilcisi Javier Solana ise son anda katılmayacakları açıkladı.
Diplomatik kaynaklar, yarın Doha'da başlayacak olan ve Devlet Bakanı Mehmet
Aydın'ın eşbaşkanlığını yapacağı İkinci Medeniyetler İttifakı Zirvesi'nden
önce bir araya gelen yetkililerin, krizin çözümü için yapılan çalışmalara
katkı sağlayacağını belirtti.
Aynı kaynaklar, krizin büyüyerek Müslümanlar ve Hristiyanlar arasında daha
büyük sorunlara yol açmadan çözülmesi için yoğun diplomatik çaba harcandığını
kaydetti.
Türkiye ile İspanya'nın ortak girişimi olan Medeniyetler İttifakı projesi
çerçevesinde ilk toplantı geçtiğimiz yıl İspanya'nın Mayorka kentinde
yapılmıştı.
Karikatür krizinin gelişimi
30 eylül 2005:
Danimarka'nın muhafazakar gazetesi Jyllands-Posten 'ifade özgürlüğü'
çerçevesinde 12 serilik Hz. Muhammed karikatürleri yayımladı.
10 ocak 2006:
Norveç gazetesi Magazinet de aynı karikatürleri yayımladı. Bu gelişmeler
üzerine birçok Müslüman ülke, örgüt ve kurum Danimarka ve Norveç ürünlerini
boykot çağrısında bulundu.
31 ocak 2006:
Jyllands-Posten gazetesi özür diledi. Norveç gazetesi Magazinet de 'üzüntülerini
bildirdi'. Danimarka Başbakanı Anders Fogh Rasmussen ise karikatürlerin
yayımlanmasını şahsen kınadığını söyledi, ancak gazete adına özür dilemeyi
reddetti.
Fransa, Almanya, İspanya, İsviçre, Ürdün ve Macaristan'daki bazı gazeteler,
Jyllands-Posten gazetesindeki karikatürleri yayımladı.
10 şubat 2006:
31 ocakta karikatürler nedeniyle üzüntülerini iletmekle yetinen Norveç
gazetesi, baskı ve tepkilerin ardından özür diledi.
14 şubat 2006:
Finlandiya Başbakanı Matti Vanhanen de, Finlandiya'daki aşırı sağcı bir
internet sitesinin İslam dünyasını rahatsız eden karikatürleri yayımlaması
nedeniyle özür diledi.
16 şubat 2006:
İslam dünyasını rahatsız eden karikatürleri basan Danimarka gazetesi Jyllands
Posten'in kültür editörü Flemming Rose, amacının Müslümanları test etmek
olmadığını söyledi.
17 şubat 2006:
Danimarkalılar, internet aracığıyla Hazreti Muhammed karikatürleri nedeniyle
İslam dünyasından özür diledi.
Karikatür zirvesi sıkıntıya girdi
25 Şubat 2006 www.kanald.com.tr
İslam dünyasını rahatsız eden
karikatürlerin neden olduğu krizi çözmek amacıyla Katar'ın başkenti Doha'da
8'li yapılması planlanan zirve 6'lı toplantı şeklinde yapılacak.
Annan'ın, Medeniyetler İttifakı Projesi kapsamında Doha'da bir araya gelen
çeşitli ülkelerin yetkilileriyle kendi davet ettiği bazı liderleri bir araya
getirerek karikatür krizi sorunlarını aşma çabaları sıkıntıyla başladı.
BM Genel Sekreteri Kofi Annan'ın çağrısı üzerine yapılacak toplantıya,
Dışişleri Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı Abdullah Gül'ün yanı sıra AB Dönem
Başkanı Avusturya'nın Dışişleri Bakanı Ursula Plassnik, AB Dış Politika ve
Güvenlik Yüksek Temsilcisi Javier Solana,İslam Konferansı Örgütü (İKÖ) Genel
Sekreteri Prof. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, evsahibi ülke Katar'ın Dışişleri Bakanı
Şeyh Hamad Bin Casim bin Cabir el Tani, İspanya Dışişleri Bakanı Miguel
Moratinos ve Arap Birliği Genel Sekreteri Amr Musa katılacaktı.
Ancak Annan'ın davetine ilk başta ''evet'' diyen Avusturya Dışişleri Bakanı
Plassnik ile AB Güvenlik ve Dış Politika Yüksek Temsilcisi Solana son anda
gelmekten vazgeçti.
Diplomatik kaynaklar, Doha'da başlayacak olan ve Devlet Bakanı Mehmet Aydın'ın
eşbaşkanlığını yapacağı ikinci ''Medeniyetler İttifakı Zirvesi''nden önce bir
araya gelen yetkililerin, karikatür krizinin çözümü amacıyla yapılan
çalışmalara katkı sağlayacağını belirtti.
Aynı kaynaklar, krizin büyüyerek, Müslümanlar ve Hıristiyanlar arasında daha
büyük sorunlara yol açmadan çözülmesi için yoğun diplomatik çaba harcandığını
kaydetti. Türkiye ile İspanya'nın ortak girişimi olan ''Medeniyetler İttifakı''
projesi çerçevesinde ilk toplantı geçen yıl İspanya'nın Mayorka kentinde
yapılmıştı.
Hasan Esen 24
Şubat 2006 Cuma
www.turkiyegazetesi.com
ANKARA (İHA) - Dışişleri Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı Abdullah Gül,
Türkiye’nin hem Avrupalı hem de Müslüman bir ülke olarak karikatür krizi
konusunda üzerine düşeni yaptığını söyleyerek, “Türkiye konumu itibariyle
İslam dünyası ve Batıyı ortak noktada buluşturabilecek tek ülke” dedi. Bakan
Gül, Danimarka Devlet Televizyonu “Danish TV”ye karikatür krizi konusunda
röportaj verdi. Türkiye’nin Avrupalı bir ülke olduğunu belirten Gül, “Biz
aynı zamanda komşularıyla iyi ve güçlü ilişkileri olan gelişmiş bir Müslüman
ülkeyiz. Ayrıca AB’ye üyelik sürecinde bulunan bir ülkeyiz. Bizim bu
konumumuz, İslam dünyasıyla Batı dünyası arasındaki problemlerin çözümüne
yardımcı olabilir” diye konuştu.
Tepkiler demokratik olmalı
Türkiye olarak elçiliklerin ve bayrakların yakılması, insanların
öldürülmesi ve mallara zarar verilmesini tasvip etmelerinin asla mümkün
olmadığını söyleyen Gül, Müslüman ülkelerdeki tepkilerin demokratik
yollardan ortaya konulmasının önemine değindi. Şiddeti hoş görmediklerini
ifade eden Gül, bunun Müslüman insanların terörle anılır hale getirilmesine
sebep olduğunu kaydetti. Türkiye açısından da basın özgürlüğünün çok önemli
olduğunu kaydeden Gül, “Sözde Hazreti Muhammed’in karikatürlerini Danimarka
ve diğer ülkelerin basınında görmekten mutlu olduğumuzu söyleyemeyiz. Basın
özgürlüğü insanların inançlarına ve kutsal değerlerine hareket etmek
anlamına gelmez” diye konuştu.
Üzerimize düşeni yaptık
Meselenin çözümü konusunda Türkiye’nin üzerine düşeni yaptığını,
kendisinin Alman ve Avusturya Dışişleri bakanları ile ortak açıklamalar
yaptığını, Başbakan Erdoğan’ın ise “Medeniyetler İttifakı Girişimi”
temelinde İspanya Başbakanı ile bütün dünyayı sağduyuya çağırdığını söyleyen
Gül, BM’nin de bu konuya önem verdiğini dile getirdi. Batıda Yahudi
düşmanlığının yerini Müslüman düşmanlığının almaya başladığını belirten Gül,
meselenin çözülmemesi halinde daha büyük olaylara sebep olabileceği
uyarısında bulundu. Danimarka’nın da içinde bulunduğu birçok Avrupa
ülkesinde anti-semitizm yapılamadığına işaret eden Gül, doğrudan İslam’ı
hedef alan karikatürlerin yayınlanmasının hoşgörülemeyeceğini ifade etti.
Problem daha fazla büyümeden BM’nin meselenin farkına vardığına işaret eden
Gül, hafta sonunda Katar’da medeniyetlerarası uzlaşmanın 2. toplantısının
yapılacağını ve Türkiye’nin bu toplantıya katılacağını anlattı.
Katar yolcusu...
ANKARA - Dışişleri Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı Abdullah Gül, BM Genel
Sekreteri Kofi Annan’ın daveti üzerine, karikatür kriziyle ilgili
toplantılara katılmak üzere yarın Katar’ın başkenti Doha’ya gidecek. Annan,
Doha’da pazar günü yapılacak “Medeniyetler İttifakı- 2. Yüksek Düzeyli Grup
toplantısı” öncesinde, karikatür krizine ilişkin olarak ayrı bir toplantı
yapılması teklifini getirerek, ilgili taraflara davette bulundu. Annan bu
çerçevede, Gül’ün yanı sıra AB Dönem Başkanı Avusturya’nın Dışişleri Bakanı
Ursula Plassnik, Türkiye ile birlikte Medeniyetler İttifakı projesinin
öncülüğünü yapan İspanya’nın Dışişleri Bakanı Miguel Angel Moratinos, AB Dış
Politika ve Güvenlik Yüksek Temsilcisi Javier Solana, İKÖ Genel Sekreteri
Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Arap Birliği Genel Sekreteri Amr Musa ve ev sahibi
ülke Katar’ın Dışişleri Bakanı Hamad Bin Casim El Tani’ye toplantıya katılma
çağrısı yaptı. Bu arada Dışişleri Bakanı Gül’ün mart ayında İspanya,
Avusturya ve Tunus’u da ziyaret etmesi gündemde.
Medeniyetleri Türkiye barıştıracak
22/02/2006 www.radikal.com.tr
BRÜKSEL - İslam dünyası ile Batı'yı karşı karşıya getiren karikatür krizine
karşı AB, Türkiye'yi medeniyetleri barıştıracak ülke olarak öne çıkarıyor. AB
Dönem Başkanı Avusturya'nın Dışişleri Bakanı Ursula Plassnik, Dışişleri Bakanı
Abdullah Gül'ü 10-11 Mart'ta Salzburg'da yapılacak AB dışişleri bakanları
gayriresmi toplantısının açılışını yapmaya davet etti. Avusturyalı sözcü
Nikola Johannes Donig, toplantıda karikatür krizi başta olmak üzere dinler ve
kültürler arası diyaloğun ele alınacağını belirterek, "Türkiye, BM'nin
Medeniyetler İttifakı girişiminde yer alan bir ülke. Konu medeniyetler
ittifakı olunca Avrupa'da Türkiye, arabuluculuk adına neredeyse söz söyleme
hakkına sahip tek ülke. Çünkü büyük çoğunluğu Müslüman ve AB adayı" dedi.
Donig, Gül'ün ayrıca 8 Mart'ta Plassnik, Avrupa Komisyonu'nun genişlemeden
sorumlu üyesi Olli Rehn ve sonraki dönem başkanı Finlandiya'nın Dışişleri
Bakanı Erkki Tuomioja'yla buluşacağını belirtti.
BM Genel Sekreteri Kofi Annan da son dakikada, Katar'ın başkenti Doha'da hafta
sonu yapılacak Medeniyetler İttifakı toplantısına katılma kararı aldı. Önceki
gün İslam Konferansı Örgütü (İKÖ) elçileriyle Doha zirvesini tartışan Annan'ın
zirvede Gül ve Plassnik'in yanı sıra İKÖ Genel Sekreteri Ekmelettin İhsanoğlu,
Arap Birliği Genel Sekreteri Emir Musa ve AB Temsilcisi Javier Solana ile bir
araya gelecek. (Dış Haberler)
POINT DE PRESSE QUOTIDIEN DU BUREAU DU PORTE-PAROLE DU SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL DE L'ONU
22 FÉVRIER 2006
ONU (Communiqués de presse) - New York,NY,USA
Dimanche, le Secrétaire général prendra part à la deuxième réunion du
Groupe de personnalités de haut niveau de l'Alliance des civilisations.
Le Secrétaire général se rendra ce week-end à
Doha, au Qatar, pour prendra part à deux manifestations. Samedi, Kofi Annan
organisera une réunion sur la crise provoquée par la publication de caricatures
du prophète Mahomet. Parmi les autres participants, figureront les Secrétaires
généraux de l’Organisation de la Conférence islamique et de la Ligue des États
arabes, les Ministres des affaires étrangères de la Turquie, de l’Espagne, de
l’Autriche et du Qatar, ainsi que le Haut Représentant de l’Union
européenne pour la politique étrangère et de la sécurité commune, Javier
Solana. La plupart d’entre eux donneront ensuite
une conférence de presse, au cours de laquelle ils feront une déclaration
conjointe. Dimanche, le Secrétaire général prendra part à la deuxième réunion
du Groupe de personnalités de haut niveau de l’Alliance des civilisations.
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| Département de l’information • Service des informations et des accréditations • New York |
ACTIVITÉS DU SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL AU QATAR, LES 25 ET 26 FÉVRIER 2006
(Adapté de l’anglais)
Le Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, M. Kofi Annan, est arrivé à Doha au Qatar, tôt dans la matinée du 25 février, pour participer à la réunion ministérielle qu’il a convoquée sur la controverse née de la publication des caricatures du Prophète Mahomet.
Avant le début de la réunion, le Secrétaire général a eu un certain nombre de rencontres bilatérales avec, entre autres, le Secrétaire général de l’Organisation de la conférence islamique, Ekmeleddin Ishanoglu, le Secrétaire général du Sommet ibéro-américain, Enrique Iglesias, et l’ancien Ministre des affaires étrangères de l’Indonésie, Ali Alatas.
Kofi Annan a aussi rencontré le Vice-Premier Ministre et Ministre des affaires étrangères de la Turquie, Abdullah Gül, pour évaluer la situation au Moyen-Orient, y compris l’Iraq et le conflit israélo-palestinien. Le Secrétaire général a indiqué que la Turquie a un rôle important à jouer en encourageant le Hamas à désarmer. Concernant l’Iraq, les deux hommes ont souligné la nécessité pour la communauté internationale d’exercer des pressions collectives, avant les élections, pour encourager les dirigeants iraquiens à emprunter le chemin de l’unité. Discutant également de Chypre, le Secrétaire général a prévenu son interlocuteur de sa prochaine rencontre avec le Président de chypriote, Tassos Papadopoulos
Le Secrétaire général s’est ensuite entretenu avec l’Émir du Qatar, Cheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Ils ont discuté de la tension liée aux caricatures du Prophète Mahomet ainsi que du Groupe de haut niveau sur l’Alliance des civilisations. Kofi Annan a souligné la nécessité de reprendre l’espace qui a été occupé par les extrémistes des deux côtés. Les deux hommes ont aussi échangé leur point de vue sur la situation au Moyen-Orient. Le Secrétaire général a remercié l’Émir du Qatar pour son appui au Fonds des Nations Unies pour la démocratie ainsi que pour les efforts contre la polio.
Après cet entretien, Kofi Annan a discuté de la déclaration commune sur les caricatures du Prophète Mahomet avec le Secrétaire général de la Conférence islamique et celui de la Ligue des États arabes, Amre Moussa, ainsi qu’avec les Ministres des affaires étrangères de la Turquie, de l’Espagne, Miguel Angel Cuyaubé et l’Émir du Qatar. Ils ont ensuite tenu une conférence presse au cours de laquelle le Secrétaire général a lu, avant de répondre aux questions, la déclaration commune (Voir Communiqué de presse SG/2106).
Le Secrétaire général a déclaré à la presse qui s’interrogeait sur la valeur juridique de la déclaration commune, qu’il la porterait à l’attention de l’Assemblée générale et du Conseil de sécurité. Il reviendra alors aux États Membres de décider de la marche à suivre. Le Secrétaire général a aussi souligné que la déclaration commune doit être perçue comme un effort plus large visant à créer un dialogue et à améliorer le respect entre les différentes cultures, croyances et civilisations. Il a appelé toutes les personnes à assumer leur responsabilité de s’impliquer et à ne pas laisser ces efforts aux seules mains des dirigeants. « Nous devons entendre une autre voix et la voix de la majorité des Musulmans et des Chrétiens devra se faire entendre », a encouragé Kofi Annan.
Le Secrétaire général a ensuite assuré qu’il s’était entretenu au téléphone avec le Haut Représentant de l’Union européenne pour la politique extérieure et de la sécurité commune, Javier Solana, et au Ministre des affaires étrangères de l’Autricbe, Ursula Plassnik, en sa qualité de Présidente de l’Union européenne. Il a affirmé que ces deux personnalités n’hésiteraient à adhérer à l’esprit et au contenu de la déclaration commune. « J’espère que leur absence ne sera pas interprétée comme un manque d’intérêt parce qu’ils ont de réelles raisons de ne pas être parmi nous », a rassuré le Secrétaire général.
Avant de quitter Doha pour Genève, tôt dans l’après-midi du dimanche 26 février, le Secrétaire général a fait une déclaration liminaire à la deuxième réunion du Groupe de haut niveau sur l’Alliance des civilisations (Voir communiqué de presse SG/SM/1039).
En marge de la réunion, le Secrétaire général s’est entretenu avec l’ancien Président iranien, Mohammed Khatami. Les deux hommes ont discuté des derniers développements en Iraq et des élections dans le territoire palestinien. Ils ont aussi échangé leur point de vue sur les discussions relatives au programme nucléaire de l’Iran. Le Secrétaire général a émis l’espoir que les discussions diplomatiques se poursuivront jusqu’au 6 mars, date à laquelle le Directeur général de l’Agence internationale de l’énergie atomique (AIEA), Mohammed ElBaradei, devrait présenter son rapport au Conseil des Gouverneurs de l’AIEA.
