Moreover, it also gave me the opportunity to observe what young and enthusiastic Turkish volunteers have been doing in the way of building bridges and promoting peaceful coexistence in the country. Sri Lanka is a unique context in this regard and Turkey can draw many lessons for itself from Sri Lanka. I was not expecting Sri Lanka to be so prosperous. I was anticipating that its cities would be similar to other south Asian cities, such as in India or Pakistan. But, to my surprise, I have found standards similar to the South Korean and Thai capitals. Everything is not perfect, of course, but this level of development in a south Asian city is promising for the other parts of this corner of the world. The country's population is about 20 million and 10 percent of this is Muslims who are ethnically Tamil, the majority being Buddhist Sinhalese. Another important ethnic and religious minority is the Hindu Tamils. The country has a tradition of pluralism and peaceful coexistence, and minorities had expansive rights in the past, but in early 1970s the state decided to curb minority rights, paving the way for the emergence of the terrorist Tamil Tigers in 1976. The government now claims that in a few weeks' time the terrorists will be eradicated entirely, but we must bear in mind that only a few years ago almost one-third of the country was under the rule of the Tigers and many thousands lost their lives in the bloodshed. The government is now aware of its past mistakes and will hopefully return to a more pluralist agenda. But this does not mean that pluralism was on the shelves during the decades of terror. Muslim and Hindu politicians have been active in Colombo and they have always competed for seats on several parties' tickets. They did not need to establish purely Hindu or Muslim parties. I must confess that as a Turk I envy them. Until recently Colombo's mayor was a Muslim and its governor is currently a Muslim. There are Muslim ministers, as well. It is not only in politics that you see active and prominent minorities, but in other spheres of life, as well. I met a Constitutional Court judge who happens to be a Muslim and one of the speakers on my panel at the conference was a Hindu who was a retired Constitutional Court judge. I remembered the Turkish Constitutional Court and thought that maybe 30 years from now we can reach such real and pluralistic coexistence, not like the fake Western version where institutional racism has always been widespread, with almost no possibility of going away.
I spoke to the panel about Turkish civil society and volunteer organizations promoting peaceful coexistence and their underlying dynamics and philosophies. In a way, my paper was only an academic analysis and summary of what Turkish volunteers have been doing all over the world for years and in Sri Lanka for the last three years. Although Sri Lankans have a tradition and habit of pluralist coexistence, they said they were impressed with these incredible young Turks, most of them being just barely over 20 years old but commanding respect in their surroundings with their altruism and humility. I was also impressed to hear from these Sri Lankans -- Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alike -- that they needed the help of these unsung, energetic Turkish heroes to help them build bridges and fight against ignorance, intolerance, disunity and poverty.
