By Kassem Kassir
For the second time in two years, a group of Arab activists met in Istanbul at the invitation of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva, with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the crises affecting a number of Arab countries and to follow up on the launch of several dialogue initiatives. Their aim is to strengthen social cohesion within the framework of citizenship, to ease sectarian, confessional and ethnic tensions, and to achieve local reconciliation.
The workshop took place in Istanbul over the past few days, attended by political, intellectual, media and civil society figures from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. The participants reflected a wide political, intellectual and confessional diversity, so that every sensibility was represented, allowing an in-depth and calm dialogue on the crises and conditions facing the countries of the region, away from media and political polemics and from preconceived positions.
The workshop continues the efforts of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva in many Arab countries to ease tensions and to seek bridges of communication between the various political, partisan and intellectual actors.
This year’s workshop was distinguished by sessions devoted to two dialogue initiatives: the first, already launched in Lebanon, is entitled the Humanitarian Charities Forum; the second, in preparation in Iraq, concerns the role of tribal and religious leaders in the process of national reconciliation and the future of Iraq. What makes these initiatives important is that they are not confined to elites and theory: they seek to reach the active and engaged groups in society, in order to carry out practical activities that can overcome disagreements and problems and lay the foundations for concrete experiences of living together.
The working sessions examined the situation in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Syria in all its political, social and religious aspects. Participants presented the developments in these countries, the positive and negative indicators concerning the crises and problems they have faced in recent times, and their expectations for the coming period.
While the outlook for Syria and Yemen was bleak, amid fears that the military and political conflicts would worsen and that no agreement or solution to the ongoing crises would be reached, the participants from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Bahrain considered that their countries had overcome the dangers of sectarian and confessional conflict, that events there were political and social in nature, and that efforts were continuing to address the rapid developments.
Several sessions were devoted to Iraq, particularly following the referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan Region and in light of the political, constitutional, security and economic crisis the country is facing. Conflicting views were put forward on current events and future prospects; yet, despite all the challenges and dangers that were raised, the participants agreed to launch a new community initiative to involve religious and tribal leaders in national reconciliation and to ease the crises Iraq faces today.
The most important conclusion to emerge from the frank and lively discussions in Istanbul is that the Arab countries cannot emerge from their current crises except by working to build a state of citizenship and the rule of law, protecting public freedoms and involving all parties equally in building their homelands, beyond sectarian, confessional or ethnic affiliations. Cooperation and coordination among all parties, within each country and across countries, is the shortest path to resolving the current crises and problems, for wars, conflicts and polemics will lead nowhere.
Although some disagreements and divergent views emerged in the plenary and bilateral discussions on the role of external factors in fuelling sectarian and confessional conflicts within Arab states, this does not prevent the affirmation that local and internal forces are capable of taking practical and realistic initiatives to ease these tensions without waiting for solutions from abroad, and that, instead of focusing on contentious issues and subjects, it is possible to seek common ground and positive themes, both in history and in the present.
While the practical results of the dialogue initiatives agreed upon at the second Istanbul workshop are awaited, those who take part in such meetings come away with a first impression: despite the bleak picture of the Arab and Muslim reality, there is hope of emerging from this darkness through practical cooperation among those who carry the banner of dialogue and moderation.
It is to be hoped that Istanbul, alongside other Arab and Muslim cities, will remain a free space for frank and transparent dialogue and for launching new initiatives of dialogue and cooperation in the face of calls for war and conflict.
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