Obama to Visit Turkey on April 6-7: Turkish PM
AFP: ANKARA — US President Barack Obama will visit Turkey on April 6-7, following an invitation from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend a forum aimed at fostering dialogue between the West and the Muslim world.

Erdogan said late Wednesday he had invited Obama to attend a meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative in Istanbul on April 7 and expressed surprise that the US president responded with a proposal also for an official visit to Ankara the day before.

"I didn't expect (an official visit) that soon," Erdogan said in an interview with TGRT television, adding that Obama was expected to attend the Istanbul forum as well.

"The official visit will be probably combined with the Alliance of Civilizations meeting... That is very meaningful for us," he said.

Predominantly Muslim, secular Turkey is a NATO member and a close ally of the United States in a troubled region.

The UN-backed Alliance of Civilizations initiative was launched in 2005 in a bid to help overcome prejudices and misunderstandings between different cultures and religions. It is co-chaired by Turkey and Spain. >>> Copyright © 2009 AFP | Thursday, March 19, 2009

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Hollywood Movies to Be Used to Foster ‘Inter-Cultural Understanding’
ARAB NEWS: IN the wake of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, Spain and Turkey founded The Alliance of Civilizations, an organization designed to foster dialogue between cultures and religions and, quite clearly, to head off any anti-Islamic furor triggered by the bombings. In the event the Spanish were commendably measured in their response to the carnage that had been visited on their capital. The Alliance, however, came to be criticized as being merely a talking shop.

This week this changed when, at a two-day meeting in Madrid, 350 delegates from 63 countries, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, agreed to set up a UN-backed $100-million fund to finance films which, while being entertaining, are also designed to foster understanding and peace between cultures. Unveiling the initiative, Queen Noor of Jordan said that an initial $10 million of financing was in place. It was also revealed that partnerships had already been established with Hollywood production and distribution companies. At the same meeting another project — the Rapid Response Media Mechanism — was launched which is meant to reduce tension in times of cross-cultural crises by, according to Ban, furnishing “voices of reason to reporters and producers around the world.” Editorial: Alliance not clash >>>

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