International Peace Forum in Turkey

After an anti-war demonstration in Istanbul on January
26, 2003, a Peace Forum, organized by the Peace
Coalition (Turkey) and Social Sciences Society of
Bogazici University, took place in Bogazici
University, Istanbul, with 11 participants from USA,
England, Sweden, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. Moreover,
there were also other peace activists from Israel,
Italy, Greece and India. There were two sessions in
the forum: the participants, drawing upon their
identities and experiences, shared their own memories
and views on the war. Among the participants, Ryan
Amundson from September 11 families for Peaceful
Tomorrows, who has lost his brother after the attack
on Pentagon, talked about his personal story after
September 11 attack, and how his brother’s death
led him to be a participant of an anti-violence movement.
Norman Finkelstein, the author of The Holocaust
Industry Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish
Suffering, underlined the similarities of US’s
contemporary politics with Israel’s "exploitation" of
Holocaust to justify the attacks on the Palestinian
people. Scila Elworthy emphasized the necessity of
providing an alternative political perspective besides
a pure negation of Bush’s war plans. Marijana
Komarcevic from Women in Black, stressed the
emancipatory power of organized position in order to
speak in our names. Orhan Pamuk from Turkey argue
that the war is not inevitable, that there is still a
chance to stop the war. He also added that, due to its
strategic position, Turkey could change the direction
of the process that goes towards the war. John Hipkin
from Campeace (Cambridge Peace Campaign)
underlined the significance of the participation of
"common people" to the anti-war movement. Among
the audience, an Israelite woman argued that there are
also people in Israel, who are opposed to formal
Israel politics.
Other participants—Obrad Savic, Jan Mrydal, Peter
Curman, Dusan Bjelic, Michael Simmons— shared
their ideas and experiences on war and peace.
This forum points out the vital role of the peace
activity in order to prevent the US war…