turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

6
comfortable, when we have a divided Cyprus in OUR dream of Borderless Europe
and a very weak civic engagement and action on this amazingly beautiful island?
Is it really Ok to easily forget about the feelings this project evoked in us and
have a Kayaköy in darkness with emigrants still far from their homelands? Are
we really so selfish to keep all the joy, happiness and the feelings of humanism
to ourselves? Can we really stop after we all have seen clearly that it’s only the
power of our creations that could make this world a better place to live in?”
If you do not have a strong opinion on that or if don’t want to categorise
yourself as a Don Quixote, I wish you a pleasant reading of this result book and
I do hope it will be strong enough to inspire and above all provoke you.
If you say NO, then you have to act right away right now, because this project
together with all its stakeholders and experience is fully at your disposal and
will accompany you on your adventures.
This Result Book will serve you as a comprehensive reference of issues, people,
methods, projects, works of art regarding Greek-Turkish dialogue process,
conflict resolution and youth work. The road map declaration of young people
produced at the Project Final Conference will definitely give you some clues
on the fields where progress have been made and on the aspirations of young
people for a better dialogue, better Europe and better Globe. NGO database
available at the website of the project will help you to find enthusiastic
partners for your projects in the near future and multiply your efforts. The
online Project Forum will be the right platform to gather and create together.
Well, Benim bir hayalim var - Έχω ένα όνειρο - I have a dream:
“THE SHOW MUST GO ON!”
SOPHIA KOMPOTIATI
Dear friends,
When I first met members from AEGEE-Ankara
and we discussed about the Turkish-Greek Civic
Dialogue Project, it was May of 2002 in Amsterdam,
almost 4 years ago. I still remember the first thing I
thought about the project: “it sounds interesting. I think
we can do something together”. To be honest, I could
never imagine what would follow that meeting.
These 4 years of the project have been full of enthusiasm,
happiness, disappointments, fun, stress, meetings,
hundreds of e-mails, phone calls, brainstorming,
mistakes, smiles, hugs, friendships, photos; and although
we had many difficulties, especially in the beginning as
the Turkish – Greek field was quite new and most of us
were inexperienced in such long-term activities, above
all these two years were full of hope and willing to do
something together (‘beraber/ μαζί).
I still bring in my mind our disappointment about the small number of Greek
participants in the first event, the conference in snowy Sakarya, the happiness
of Greeks on the boat to Rhodes, the stress and the astonishment about the
3.000 youngsters in Youth and Culture Festival of Kayaköy, the interesting of
participants about the population exchange issues in Istanbul and the happy
days in METU of Ankara Final Conference.
Many people have asked me what has left from all these efforts, what is finally
the result of this entire project platform. After thinking too much, I think
there is an simple answer: the fact that we all (some of which had never seen
a Turk or a Greek before and from various places of both countries), gathered
and analyzed among other issues, about dialogue, media, education problems,
history writing, literature, cultural heritage, minorities, project management,
peace and stereotypes; the fact that we lived for a while together and had fun
with same music and parties, concerts and dances; the fact that we made plans
for a common ground, but above all we had the chance to meet and discuss
Greetings Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe