5th CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOG MEETING

The fifth of Civil Society Dialog Meetings was held in Istanbul under the auspices of Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator.

In the meeting, the opening speech was delivered by Minister Bagis and the problems of citizens from different kinds of faith groups and proposals for solution within the framework of Turkey’s EU accession process were discussed.

Bagis, stating that a lot of things have been changed in Turkey, said “Now, we can freely talk and discuss in Turkey. Now, in this country where we have been living together for thousands of years, we are not trying to change each other, instead, we are trying to accept each other as we are. We believe that each of us is a wealth for this country, and with this belief, we are aware of the fact that we can work hard together and we can only achieve the ideal of being one of 10 most powerful economies of the World which is deserved by this country by working hard together.”

Bagis continued his speech as follows:

“Today is February 14th and it is celebrated as Valentine’s Day all around the world.  On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, we unite our love once again as Turkey and from Istanbul, from the world capital where the civilizations meet, where the mosques, churches and synagogues give peace to humanity for 800 years we declare to humanity that peace can only be acquired with love and love is actually a common ground in all religious beliefs. In this meeting, I owe my sincere gratitude to you for the significant support you give to the spiritual aspect of this country. Our religious groups have been providing very important contributions to the unity and peace of our country for hundreds of years as an inseparable part of this land. May God bless all the people who pray for humanity, for peace, for Turkey and for the unity and peace of Turkey. Your prayers are actually the call of this common love. Your prayers have been keeping us together on this land for hundreds of years. I am aware that you also pray for our Prime Minister who has made the greatest efforts to bring peace to this country throughout the history struggling with the will of bringing democracy to Turkey and freedom to our people. I would like to underline that we are sincerely affected by this.”

Egemen Bagis stated that it was very meaningful that for the first time in history of the Republic of Turkey, 162 non-Muslim foundations and associations came together and hosted an “Iftar Meal” in the month of Ramadan in honor of Prime Minister Erdogan.