The Assyrian Democratic Organization
The dinner started with a prayer. After dinner the first speech was made by the Marmara Group Foundation Chairman Akkan Suver. He said that he was very pleased to organize the dinner during which Muslims, Christians and Jews came together.
During the dinner spiritual leaders explained the importance of tolerance and love by giving examples in their books. Turkish Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, who stated that a possible war would negatively affect many people, said, “I wish peace in an environment where all religions are together.”
Assyrian Orthodox Metropolitan Yusuf Cetin, who described the iftar dinner as the dinner of love, said that they prayed for world peace. Tarabya Metropolitan Konstantin Harisiadis talked about the sincere dialogue created during the iftar dinner.
Religious Affairs Chairman Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz stated that Islam meant submitting, and said, “Submitting exists in all religions.” Yilmaz said the following, “In our religion to deny a prophet means to deny all prophets. If a person believes in all of them but not Musa, that means they believe in none of them. Muslims don’t make the distinction between the prophets.”
Yilmaz also thanked Akkan Suver and said, “This dinner is an example of tolerance.”
Istanbul – Turkish Daily News
