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Ninety Afghan diplomats and leaders of various religious sects came together in İstanbul on Wednesday for a program organized by Marmara University to discuss the problems in Afghanistan and come up with ways to bring peace among the Afghan people.
Turkey has being closely watching the troubles faced by Afghans in recent years and currently it is hosting a three-day program, where 90 Afghan religious figures and diplomats as well as some 30 religious leaders from various Muslim countries, such as Qatar, Indonesia and Jordan, are meeting to discuss peace and unity in Afghanistan.
Recently the sixth trilateral summit between Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan, hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gül, took place in İstanbul to express the willingness of Pakistani and Afghan statesmen to join hands in working towards peace and security in the region.
The program’s organizer, Marmara University Middle East Research Institute head Professor Talip Küçükcan, stated that Turkey is a country that looks forward to seeing Afghanistan solve its problems with unity among its people. “Since the beginning, Turkey was against Afghanistan being invaded and Turkey had always wanted Afghanistan to sort its problems out with its political and social actors in the country. Turkey has always lent a helping hand to Afghanistan when it is needed,” said Küçükcan.
Along with Marmara University, Aziz Abu Sarah -- the co-executive director of George Mason University’s Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution -- is organizing programs and lectures where Afghanistan’s problems are discussed. Sarah stated that Turkey is playing a major role in establishing peace among religious sects in Afghanistan.
“Turkey is a Muslim state with people from different religious sects living in peace. We [Afghans] want to make use of the experiences of a Muslim country, not the West. Turkey is a country which watches our problems closely and it’s a country which can be guide for us [Afghans]” Sarah added.
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