Finland has called on the European Union to talk with moderate Muslims following the global row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
“The EU should seek to engage itself in a dialogue with mainstream Muslims both internationally as well as nationally”, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja told a Helsinki conference entitled “Building Dialogue: Beyond the Cartoons”.
“If we wish our voice to be heard by the Muslims, we will have to listen to Muslims abroad as well as domestically”, Tuomioja said.
Twelve cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, first published in a Danish newspaper in September and later reprinted around the world, have sparked demonstrations in the Muslim world.
Tuomioja said he planned to promote European-Muslim dialogue during Finland’s EU presidency, which begins in July, and would involve “governments and intergovernmental bodies, the civil society, religious and spiritual leaders as well as intellectuals.
“The cartoon crisis has touched ordinary people around the world. It is not only to them, but with them we should be talking”, he stressed.
Other participants in the seminar said that the cartoon crisis illustrated a misperception of Islam in Western societies.
“I do not believe that these cartoons just suddenly came out of the blue and that they only reflect a black sense of humor. No, they are in fact the result of a series of misunderstandings and misperceptions about Islam that have accumulated particularly over the last few years”, said Ali Yakital, foreign policy aide to Turkey’s prime minister and co-president of UN body Alliance of Civilizations.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks “Western populations are wrongly led to believe that Muslims are prone to violence and terrorism”.
At the same time, terrorist acts by Muslim groups had not always been condemned strongly enough by Muslim leaders.
“Those with authority and capacity have unfortunately failed to redress the misrepresentation”, Yakital said.
Tuomioja said several meetings between European and Muslim leaders were scheduled to take place during the Finnish EU presidency.
Also attending the seminar, hosted by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, were German MP Lale Akgun, Abdellatif Arabiat of the Jordanian Islamic Action Front as well as the Spanish ambassador to Finland, Maximo Cajal, and Turkish Ambassador Ali Yakital, among others.
After it takes over the reins of the EU presidency, Finland is planning to host an Asia-Europe summit in September, as well as a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Euromed region (25 EU states and 10 mainly Muslim Mediterranean-rim states) in Tampere on November 27-28.
An interfaith forum, entitled “Religions in a Pluralist World - Unity and Diversity”, will also be held in Espoo, near Helsinki.
Finland has actively encouraged dialogue between antagonists over the cartoon row.
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