Impressions

"We left the imaginary ivory towers"

Some remarks by Umut Koldas

One scholar defines learning, in a different context, as "a species of group therapy and transcending exchange of ideas and patterns of behaviors relying not only to systemic forces but also existing needs of the actors and led by a motive". In this process the sides exchange their views and experiences with each other and determine a new pattern of behavior on the way of creating a smooth functioning communicative system in order to strengthen the necessary basis that they need for further learning in order to reach their needs.

I believe in that if the necessary communicative processes can be improved through communicative mechanisms, then a successful inter-societal learning can be provided among the members of different societies free from the political communicative instabilities and inter-cultural communicative burdens (such as stereotypes and wrong prejudices). Thus, in time, members of different societies may learn to compose and send their own messages to their counterparts in other societies more motivated with their societal interests and less blurred with the blind politically prejudiced, imaginary ideological or extremely nationalist considerations.

Peace education will play an irreplaceable role in inter-societal learning. It will start with creating a common language among the members of different societies with which they will try to manage cultural differences among themselves. Inter-societal exchange of messages mostly takes place only if a common language can connect the sides to each other. There are several ways of overcoming this basic obstacle.

I believe in that this conference has been one of those ways. It was not only an arena where we have just produced theoretical solutions to practical problems but where we rather had the opportunity to hear what really goes on in the region and in the minds and hearts of people of this region and of the outsiders(!).

I want to thank to all participants but mostly to the ones who could get down from ivory tower of the intellectuals and tried to put forward what they feel and what they really think about probable practical resolution of the conflict between the societies who seem to begin getting used to live in this conflictual situation more day by day.

On the contrary to some of my colleagues I think we should pay a considerable attention to the personal stories, feelings and ways of thoughts of people as much as what they say about an issue.

In this respect I think this conference provided a necessary basis to benefit from several opportunities in order to reach (at least to an extent) to somewhere in the past and future, in the memories and hopes of the people living in the region and of the ones who feel the responsibility of contributing elimination of the hatreds and recreation of the hope.

I also want to thank to organizers who really tried to consider simply every detail to create an environment conducive for discussions and to establish a healthy communicative basis in which I hope the discussants felt themselves comfortable enough to express what they really thought(?).

I wish that this conference and conferences alike may shake the strong(!) bases of "imaginary ivory towers of intellectuals˛ and contribute to creation of necessary basis for practical resolution of conflicts among the societies through establishing a functioning communication among the intellectuals who are not simply alienated (in their theoretical debates) from their and other societies and practical problematic processes.