Council of Europe official urges Turkish mayors to join intercultural cities network

The intercultural cities program, a joint action by the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Commission, is among such hopeful steps. For three years it’s been implemented in a growing number of European towns and cities and has made remarkable achievements in terms of managing and exploring cultural diversity, stimulating creativity and innovation and generating economic prosperity and a better quality of life.

However, although Turkey has increased its influence in the CoE in recent years, Turkish cities have failed to participate in the intercultural cities program, complains Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, director general of education, culture and heritage, youth and sport and coordinator for intercultural dialogue of the CoE, in an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman. She also urged Turkish mayors to apply to the CoE to take part in this project. “So far there is no town or city that has applied. It may be because of a lack of information about the intercultural cities program in Turkey,” she said.

Explaining the purpose, Battaini-Dragoni pointed out that the program works to facilitate the integration of foreign migrants who have decided to settle down in a city by teaching them the language, helping them to access education, health services and employment and motivating them to participate voluntarily in projects for the town.

For the first step, local citizens of the town who have agreed to follow the recommendations of the program should organize a welcoming event for newcomers.

Battaini-Dragoni stated: “There are special events to publicly welcome newcomers to the city. They are welcomed by two events a year every six months.”

After having been welcomed, newcomers receive training provided by the local administration to learn the language if they do not speak it fluently. Participating towns and cities also must provide migrants access to education, housing and employment. Battaini-Dragoni underlined the importance of the program for facilitating access to housing services to prevent ghettoization, a big obstacle for migrants trying to integrate into local society.

The program does not put all the responsibility on the shoulders of locals but also includes some obligations for newcomers. Immigrants have to commit voluntarily to a common project with the local population to add to the well being of the town. “It is psychologically significant for newcomers to be a part of the local population,” said the director general.

Drawing attention to the benefits of the program, Battaini-Dragoni highlighted the economic success of the participating cities, “After three years of implementation of these policies gross domestic product [GDP] per capita has started to increase when compared to cities that do not implement policies to integrate diversities.” In addition to an increase in GDP per capita the crime rate has fallen. “Because people feel at ease and develop mutual trust, violence resulting from intercultural conflict has almost disappeared. Moreover, inter-communal violence between different groups is not taking place any more in these cities,” explained Battaini-Dragoni.

To create a shared vision and concerted efforts, the intercultural city strategy includes a wide range of actors in the city, such as local authorities, professionals, social services, civil society organizations and the media. So far 21 cities including Tillburg in the Netherlands, France’s Lyon, Neuchatel in Switzerland and Munich in Germany have implemented the program successfully. When asked whether the CoE had clearly defined a minority, Battaini-Dragoni noted there is no definition for minority, and since cities apply of their own volition, the participants already have a minority that should be integrated.

Regarding the differences between cities Battaini-Dragoni said: “Each town has to adopt certain things in accordance with the unique local reality because they have different backgrounds and, more importantly, different migrant groups. But there are basic rules for everybody.”