What are the “Abant platforms” and what is their purpose?
The platforms function as think tanks dealing with contentious social and cultural issues. They bring urgent matters to the fore to be engaged with in a constructive spirit, and start public discussions and negotiations on issues that have caused tensions and clashes for decades. Participants strive to reach a consensus so that diverse views can be peacefully accommodated within society.
These platforms were a pioneering venture in Turkey. At the first meetings of the platforms, those who attended noted that this was the first time in modern Turkish history that scholar-scientists, people of religion, members of the arts, and state officials had come together, sat side by side, and talked and listened to each other with respect.
The platforms have become widely appreciated as an effective forum for airing dilemmas that many people in Turkish society had longed to have openly discussed and resolved. The Movement has thus contributed to the training of a potential for coexistence, for a common sense of citizenship, without the need to clash and with the hope of mutual respect and tolerance.
How do the of the “Abant platforms” contribute to societal wellbeing?
There has been a tendency in Turkish politics to try to deal with some very complex issues – ethnicity, religious observance, secularism, the role of the military in politics, societal cohesion and peace, work ethics, universal values – in the narrow arena of political competition. However, as a result of this politicization of the issues, hardly any change has occurred in the way that public institutions actually function and operate. The underlying problems therefore continue to perplex the nation.
In contrast to that stagnant situation, the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) platforms have allowed issues to be aired and to enter the public space so they can be presented to decision-making. This transforms the initiatives into possibilities for social change without invalidating the normal decision-making apparatuses of the political arena.
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