TURKEY: During Alliance of Civilzations meeting in Turkey Annan says politics not religion cause rift between West and Muslim world

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined the Spanish and Turkish premiers for an Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Istanbul on Monday (November 13). Spanish prime minister Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero and Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented a report to Annan on the closing day of the meeting which saw scholars, politicians and religious leaders convene to discuss wats to improve the increasingly violent relations between the two societies. The report argued that the reasons for the growing divide between the West and Muslims are not religious but political. Annan drew attention to the need to fight stereotypes and prejudices between the West and Muslims. "We need to get away from stereotypes, generalizations and perceptions and take care not to let crises committed by individuals or small groups dictate our image of an entire people, entire region or an entire religion," he said. The Alliance of Civilization report also states that emergency steps should be taken to solve the Middle East problem. Zapatero described the situation in the Middle East as extremely serious. "Spain is ready to start an initiative in European Union with regards to the Middle East Problem. The situation in Palestine is extremely serious and cause a lot of other conflict. Spain is working on an initiative. You will have the details soon," he said.

ITN Source | November 14, 2006

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