Greeting speech of Laki Vingas at the Austrian
Consulate General in Istanbul, 18th of May 2016, Presentation event of the
"Social Media and Minorities" Project
Your All
Holliness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,
Your
Excellency Ms. Christine Wendl, Consul General of Austria,
Your
Excellencies Consul Generals of Greece-Spain and representatives from the United
States of America-Hungary ...
Distinguished
clergies and lay members of the minority communities,
Dear
friends,
Today we
are gathered here on the occasion of the completion of the project "Social
Media and Minorities", which has been sponsored by the Ministry of
European Union Affairs. It is an honour for us, as the local Greek/Rum
community of Yeniköy, to host you in this magnificent historical building of
our neighbourhood, under the kind auspices of the Consul General Ms. Christine
Wendl.
The Austrian
state, through their representatives in Yeniköy, has been always generous in
hospitality and welcoming in sharing our values, and this is proved by our
today's event, where we have the chance of presenting to you the first
launching of the film of the project and of the two booklets consisting the
reports.
As citizens
of Turkey
and members of minority communities making new efforts to open up and break new
ground, we wished to contribute to these efforts by implementing our
"Social Media and Minorities" project.
The concept
of 'community foundations' and that of social media belong to two different
eras, two different worlds. Would these ever be able to make sense side by
side? Could they create something with value together? Keeping these kinds of doubts
and worries far from our minds, we set to work and managed to bring this
significant project to life.
The topic
of "Social Media and Minorities" was chosen because of the vital
importance of the minority communities in our society, as they are an extension
of it at large, and therefore take part in the same interactions. Social media
is a free space where members of minority communities may express themselves.
It works as a mechanism contributing to citizenship and integration.
In our day
institutions - even our religious institutions, who have withstood the passing
of centuries by way of the power of tradition - have become active users of
social media just like persons. Nowadays the activities of churches and
synagogues are on twitter, their prayers are on periscope. This has allowed
minorities to form networks in their own communities, as well as make their
voices heard by the society at large.
Although
community foundations represent traditional structures, they also constitute
the dynamic links of their communities, therefore involving as well as
advancing religious, cultural, social and philanthropic matters. The fact that
the implementation of a European Union project was part of this process for the
very first time has opened up a brand new field of activity. We are living
through such times that social, economic, technological and political
developments have a transformative impact on all borders, ideological
boundaries and even ancient religious institutions with time-old traditions
such as churches and synagogues.
This
project, which came into existence through the initiative of a Greek Community
Foundation, had to be implemented as a supra-community activity, in order to
develop the notion of change and collaboration.
As the very
first project brought to life through the cooperation of the Ministry of
European Union Affairs and community foundations, this carries significance in
that it demonstrates that these foundations are more than religious
congregations- that they also function as non-governmental organizations. For
our common future, we must become communities with greater ability to
contribute in social, economic and political areas. To make this possible we
must first shake off the century-old slump that has all but completely locked
down the infrastructure of our communities. Then we must look at restructure
ourselves.
This is why
there is great need for these kind of projects and activities, in order to
reshape community foundations according to the internal dynamics and needs of their
own communities.
Dear All,
I would
like to thank and show my appreciation to our co-partners the Bilgi university,
ELIAMEP and KONDA research company, as well as our advisory board members and
our project coordinator. Finally, I would like to thank the almost two thousand
people who has been kind enough to participate in a way, during the
implementation of this project.
Let us now
proceed in the projection of the film, where I would like to give my last but
not least thanks, to Giorgos Demir and his team in the production company, for
working extensively with us, through the whole process of the "Social
Media and Minorities " project.
Please
enjoy!
