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Waddah Khanfar Gives a Conference at BAU
Palestinian journalist Waddah Khanfar, Chair of the Al Sharq Forum, former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network and the most important media actor of the Arab awakening in the Middle East, gave a conference titled "Global Politics and Being Palestinian" on 20 March 2013 in cooperation between the Prime Ministry Office of Public Diplomacy of the Republic of Türkiye and the Bahçeşehir University Center for Civilization Studies.
The conference, which brought together 30 Palestinian students from 8 countries and the Palestinian community in Türkiye, was attended by Prime Ministry Head of Foreign Relations İlker Astarcı, Prime Ministry Public Diplomacy Coordinator Cemalettin Haşimi, consuls of various countries, statesmen, academics, representatives of civil society organizations and members of the press. The program was also broadcast live on TRT Arabic.
The conference began with an opening speech by Bahçeşehir University Center for Civilization Studies Director Dr. Burhan Köroğlu. Waddah Khanfar then began his talk by explaining the importance of the Battle of Gallipoli for the Turks, stating that there should also be a Gallipoli spirit in Palestine and Syria. Saying that they want Türkiye's support for the continuation of the Palestinian cause and want Türkiye to be strong, he also spoke about the importance of Palestinians around the world working as ambassadors of this cause.
Emphasizing that, for the solution of the Palestinian problem, people must first pursue a policy above parties and strengthen their loyalty to the homeland, Waddah Khanfar stated that regional and joint political and economic projects should be carried out to remove the artificial borders drawn at the end of the First World War and the divisions created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
Following the presentation of a gift to Waddah Khanfar at the end of the conference, the guests came together at a reception hosted by the university.
