turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

older generations – which used to die ten and twenty years earlier than us
anyhow.
The tremendous economic development that human societies experienced
the last decades (without however overcoming the tremendous inequalities)
gave the new generation the opportunity to travel, to visit the country of
the Other and to obtain a personal idea about the Other. The imagined Other
started to be replaced by concrete individuals and stereotypes with firsthand
information and concrete knowledge. During this process even the most
negative Other proved to be better than the traditional Other that the nation
myths had cultivated.
The economic (relative) affluence made it possible for the two countries,
as state establishments and as NGOs to finance programs that helped the
communication of Greeks and Turks.
The third parties and especially some agencies of the European Union also
contributed decisively in this direction. The youth profited considerably from
these efforts. They were practical results as the ones I just mentioned above
and ‘communication’ played a major role.
In short, our new girls and boys are much better than us, the older people.
It seems that they will hand over a much better international environment
than the one they inherited from ‘us’. They act with confidence and especially
humor. Humor is the most prominent characteristic of the young people that
presently deal with Greek-Turkish relations. They are completely different
from the ‘all-serious patriots’ of my time. The new youth at some instances is
laughing for issues that their parents were ready to go to war (or at least send
others to fight for them). I think this is a good sign that a tragedy started to be
perceived as a comedy; which is a way of insinuating a criticism to those who
exaggerated the various issues.
The young people are heading towards the correct direction. As for ‘us’, the
older generation, we should, a) preserve the atmosphere of détente for a few
more decades so that the gains are stabilized and b) provide the economic
support to increase the communication channels between the young people.
Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe
IS PEACE A DREAM?
................................................................................................................... NUR BATUR
Bureau Chief Hürriyet Newspaper and
CNN Türk TV in Greece, 20th July 2004
Can Aegean be a Sea of Peace & Cooperation?
Or is Peace a dream? Until 2000, peace was a dream between Turkey and
Greece. However, since then, a lot of Greeks and Turks believe that it is not
a dream anymore. The major changes in Greek foreign policy together with
support from Turkish governments started dialogue after more than 10 years
and created strong hopes for the future.
In October 2001 when I first started participating in the meetings of Turkish-
Greek Civic Dialogue, I felt more optimistic for new generations. Because I
realized that the Turkish and Greek students does not only have dreams of
peace, but also working hard for it. I have participated in almost all the
meetings of Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue. I am very happy to see that the young
generations are trying to build up a future, based on mutual understanding and
tolerance between two nations.
There has been improvement in Turkish - Greek relations since the dialogue
has started in 2000. For the first time since 1950’s, there is political will in
both governments to build economic, social and trade relations to create an
atmosphere to solve the problems between the two countries.
Due to this political will, the channels of communication, which was blocked for
many years, has been opened again. The politicians started getting together to
build up new relationships. Businessmen increased contacts and trade relations.
The Civil organizations, universities and students started building new bridges
of understanding. Journalists began cooperation and exchanging information.
Rebuilding Communication
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