‘MEDIA SHOULD FUSE FREEDOM WITH RESPONSIBILITY’
By Saban Gunduz, Kenan Bas

Zaman Online, Turkey
April 9 2006

Antalya hosted on Saturday a “general assembly” amid the Dialogue
Eurasia Platform’s four-day meeting over “media.”

Anar Rizayev, an Azerbaijani poet and the Honorary President of the
program, pointed the finger at the role of media.

The notion of freedom should not lead to impropriety, that is why,
the media, the most powerful tool in the 21st century, ought to keep
a fine balance between freedom and liability, said Rizayev.

Islam suffers from a lax attitude from the media towards equivalence
of it with terrorism, Anar stressed.

The recent incidents in the West are a clear sign of drought of western
influence on the East, said Harun Tokak, the Head of Journalists and
Writers Foundation.

The program here is a ground to introduce eastern values to the West,
said Tokak.

“The western optimism relies today on the eastern enlightenment.”

The program sets a fine example of progress towards universal peace,
said Tokak.

“This is a region hard enough to adjust to. We are under threats
of conspiracy theories that aim for disintegration. There are evil
forces working on the deterioration of hostility and abhorrence. This
program, in this sense, is meant to be a response from the eastern
intellectuals to such evil forces.”

The Euro-Asian communities need to develop mutual relations with each
other, said Elcin Efendiyev, the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan.

It is the “truth” that Azerbaijan can only ally with in search of a
resolution to the question of the Mountainous Karabagh, said Efendiyev.

The failure, however, came over the inability to speak the truth
against the whole world, Efendiyev concluded.

Dialogue Eurasia Platform Honorary President and Azerbaijan Authors
Union President Anar Rizayev told 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories
were occupied by Armenia, claiming that the world media does not
reflect the facts about the Karabagh issue.

“I do not want problems to be solved with bloodshed; however, Karabagh
is a matter of honor,” acknowledged Rizayev.

He told that they may one day cooperate with Armenia on condition
that it does not demand soil from Turkey and give up from genocide
allegations.

Prime Minister Erdogan noted that societies sharing the same geography
pour into the same sea although they flow in different beds and meet
in the same vastness.

Indicating that this fact is valid for the Eurasia region the most,
Erdogan said: “Today, the Dialogue Eurasia Platform is making
significant efforts in order to re-establish the bridges among
Eurasian societies, which have similar adventures and develop future
perspectives. I believe that the benefit of gathering around common
interests and uniting our power will appear here. The Dialogue Eurasia
Platform will be a ground where good wills turn into real steps.”

Emphasizing the platform will make important contributions to our
historical and cultural bonds, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament,
Bulent Arinc, told, “I wish to live in a world where civilizations
do not clash but unite.”

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul underlined that
Eurasia is the region, which will be influenced by the international
developments and influence the other regions of the world in the
next period.

Indicating that the region countries should evaluate the developments
in the Eurasian geography in a healthy way, Gul asked to show
the necessary support in order for Eurasia to become a region of
cooperation and welfare more than a region of competition.

Teenagers to Handle Problems of Eurasia

Eurasian countries will find solutions to the world as well as
their own problems with conscious teenagers. Youth platforms will be
established within the framework of Dialogue Eurasia Platform (DEP).

DEP will reach a younger and more dynamic structure with youth
platforms from every country.

Dialogue efforts, which start with the word “da” meaning “yes” in
Russian, are traveling to new horizons. A “Youth Platform” will be
set up within the framework of DA. Leadership of Turkey and Azerbaijan
is expected to be an example to other Eurasian countries.

DA Platform Assistant Editor Cengiz Simsek expressed that together
with DA Youth Platforms, they aimed at creating a responsible youth,
cognizant of the World’s and Eurasia’s problems.