In the 6th Baku Intercultural Dialogue Meeting held in Baku, Marmara Group Foundation President Dr. Akkan Suver made a speech and revealed the importance of dialogue for peace.

In the Intercultural Dialogue session moderated by Jahangir Salimkhanov from the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, besides Dr. Akkan Suver; Mutang Tagal, Speaker of the Malaysian Parliament, Nazlı Ahmedova from Azerbaijan, Mikhail Brygalov, Vadim Ruda, Zaslavsky Grigory Anatolyevich from the Russian Federation, Vadin Hihin from Belarus took the floor.

Below you will find Dr Akkan Suver's speech.

Speech of Dr. Akkan Suver at the 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue

Honorable participants,

Participants of the Sixth World Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, I would like to start by greeting your high delegation on behalf of the Marmara Group Foundation from Istanbul.

Today, we will bring up and discuss the topic of Intercultural Diplomacy.

First of all, I should state that diplomacy, or diplomatic life in broader terms, represents a multicultural geography.
A multicultural geography is obliged to understand and recognize each other.

Again, in this geography, we can overcome the difficulty of living together only if we can live together as equal human beings with dignity.

It is only through intercultural dialogue that communities with different languages, different religions, different countries and different ideas can live together.

In the meantime, I must emphasize that diplomacy and diplomatic dialogue is the only way to stop the conflicts, polarization, lack of understanding and discrimination we are currently experiencing.

In other words, the international community can act together not through theoretical knowledge, but through human contact, through dialogue, through understanding and getting to know each other.

In a world that is becoming less secure every day, peace, stability and conflict prevention depend on intercultural dialogue and diplomacy.

Let us stop here:

How can we ensure diplomacy and dialogue in a multicultural geography and how can we create a path to stability?
Let us think about that for a while.

As you can appreciate, dialogue and diplomacy between people with very different perspectives is not easy. But it is necessary.

It is necessary because, instead of living in conflicts, wars and tensions, it is imperative to find overlapping concepts and to create a sustainable geography that will allow different understandings and logics to live together.

We can realize this imperative through dialogue, then tolerance, then respect and mutual understanding.
While realizing these, we will consider everyone different but equal.

Dialogue is the only way for diverse communities to live in peace and stability, to create a geography suitable for multiculturalism, and to have a planet that respects common fundamental values, common human heritage and human dignity.

Only through dialogue religions can recognize, understand, and comprehend other religions; cultures can recognize, understand, and comprehend other cultures; languages can recognize, understand, and comprehend other languages.

Because the ability of people with differences to live together harmoniously within the universal thought is proportional to understanding each other correctly.

It is through dialogue, more dialogue and diplomacy that equal individuals can reach a dignified life within the consciousness of democracy by turning towards universal thinking and behavior instead of local and narrow-minded thinking.

If we take into account the fact that in every part of our planet there is a separate conflict, a separate war, a separate tension, our need for peace and stability will emerge automatically.

We can unlock the door to peace and stability with the key to multicultural diplomacy, multicultural dialogue.

We should not forget that the main theme of multicultural diplomacy and multicultural dialogue is tolerance, understanding and respect for differences.

In closing, I would like to emphasize that intercultural diplomacy and dialogue cannot be regulated by law.

Therefore, I say more respect, more understanding and more dialogue, and I greet your high delegation with respect for listening to me.