Jerusalem Post
Sept 30 2005

Turkey’s chief rabbi attends ‘Meeting of Civilizations’
By SAM SER

Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva was one of several religious leaders
to participate in the First Hatay Meeting of Civilizations, held this
week in the religiously and ethnically diverse southern city of
Hatay. During the week-long symposium, which ends on Friday, Haleva
joined a call to banish violence from all religions and to work
toward peace in society.

The Anatolian Times quoted Haleva as commenting despairingly that
civilizations were “spending $100 million every hour for tanks,
rifles and bullets… If this is civilization, then I am not a part
of it. Is this what our creator expects of us?” Haleva said.

The chief rabbi, who was lightly wounded in a deadly bombing that
severely damaged the Neveh Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul two years
ago, added: “If religions cannot protect civilizations from
committing suicide, all steps taken until today would be of no use.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the gathering,
which included religious leaders from Turkey’s Muslim, Greek Orthodox
and Armenian communities, with a speech that stressed religious
tolerance and respect for diversity.

Zaman, a Turkish on-line newspaper, quoted Erdogan as saying, “The
[Koran] says that we were created as diverse peoples so that we could
get acquainted with each other. According to this, our separation
into different nations should not cause conflicts. On the contrary,
it should enable acquaintance and dialogue among us.”

Erdogan also simultaneously criticized Islamic terrorism and the rush
to view Muslims as terrorists.

“I declare Islamic-phobia a crime against humanity in the same way we
accept anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity,” the prime minister
was quoted as saying.

On Wednesday afternoon, US public relations chief Karen Hughes, who
is traveling throughout the Middle East to try to improve the image
of the United States among Muslims, took time to meet with Haleva and
other religious leaders at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

The Associated Press reported that Hughes would not reveal precisely
what she discussed with Haleva and the others, saying simply, “We
discussed the problems of the world.”