UN ORGANIZES ‘FEDERATION OF CIVILIZATIONS’ DIALOGUE
By Petros Keshishian
AZG Armenian Daily
15/11/2006
A number of political and religious leaders represented a program
on settlement of the relations between the Western states and the
Islamic world to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The document was
elaborated by 20 authors, including Desmond Toutou, Archbishop of
the Anglican Church, and former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
The report dedicated to the opening of "Federation of Civilizations"
dialogue will be read in Istanbul during a special arrangement that
will be held at the initiative of the UN. The 20 members of the working
group have been elaborating the rport for a year. The document is
directed to settle the deepening contradictions between the Western
states and the Islamic world. It will also defines possible ways of
overcoming the mutual fear and mistrust.
It is stated in the report that the contradictions are caused by
political reasons and not by cultural or religious differences. While
the growth of the tension is conditioned by the conflicts in the Near
East and Iraq.