This does not mean that films must have a message. Many have either by desire or by happenstance. A simple love story, a drama, a comedy can often be very thought provoking and a stimulus to the mind. The worst, of course, is when violence is the major action in a movie. For those of us fighting against violence – in homes, in the community, in the world – to see it in films, especially when it is glamorized, is reprehensible and unacceptable.

I am a devout advocate of free speech and free artistic expression. So, I rule our censorship. In a democratic society, it is the people who must control such things by voicing their protest. Democracy requires also self-discipline on the part of individuals and certainly on the part of those involved in mass media.

Women have a view about the interdependence of the world’s people. This perspective views the whole of humankind as a family. Films travel around the globe and make an impact on their viewers. That is why we need a robust cooperation within the human family and an ethic for the functioning of civil society in all its aspects.

This was the motivation for the development of WINPEACE, a Greek-Turkish women’s peace initiative – the deep belief that we can work out our problems through non-violent means, through contact, common projects, and dialogue. We women have so much more in common that we have differences, which we feel we can be at the cutting edge of change for better relations between our two countries.

We want to see films made that challenge misperceptions and biases that have flourished for so many years prior to the recent breakthrough. We want to forbid ourselves from accusing or rejecting human beings based on predetermined assumptions. At the same time, we are trying to avoid false harmony by learning to live with different points of view. We want most of all to foreclose the possibility of war. This requires an intense faith in people, faith in their ability to create and re-create, faith in their capacities to be more fully human. This is undoubtedly an essential element for everyone functioning within a civil society – a belief and faith inhuman beings.

On a personal note, I am enjoying immensely working with my colleague, Zeynep Oral, and all of the Turkish women that I have gotten to know -- and that goes for all of us involved in this venture. I feel we are riding the kite of a noble cause.

I want also to congratulate your Minister of Foreign Affairs for his role in the new direction for our two countries; and I need not to say that I am proud to be the mother of George Papandreou [Foreign Minister of Greece].

The mass media gave special emphasis to the presentation of WINPEACE in Ankara and the people showed their love in every possible way and at every opportunity.

WINPEACE meetings are organized traditionally almost every six months alternately in Greece and Turkey. The official founding meeting was held in Kos and Bodrum where the mission was and a plan of action was developed for the organization. This was followed over the years by plenary sessions in Athens, Rhodes, Ankara, and in Istanbul with multiple meetings by smaller working units in the form of discussion sessions, forums, expositions, et cetera.

The meeting in Ankara had a special note. In addition to women from Greece and Turkey steadfastly building bridges of understanding and trust, there were the filmmakers from other countries reminding us of the thousands of women on this planet whose basic human rights have not yet been manifested.

Melancholy and will to struggle were manifested in the life of Rakshan Bani-Etemad, an Iranian director who took part in the festival with “Lady of May” and “Blue Velvet.” The buoyant and sensitive opening ceremonies of the International Festival creatively expressed women’s needs, desires, and dreams as well as logic on a vast number of issues in contemporary life. The circulation of the Turkish version of the Greek children’s book PEACE of Aristophanes by Sofia Zarambouka published by Aksoy Yayicilik demonstrated on of the joint ventures of WINPEACE.

Ankara was important in its richness of emotions, images, and thoughts in a relationship that is becoming long lasting. Three days of seminars in conflict resolution gave WINPEACE techniques and skills to deal with conflict through dialogue and the opportunity to practice peaceful resolution of differences between the Greek and Turkish women. While respecting differences in our ways of thinking, we became more conscious of our common traits of universality and unity.

The panel “Women for Peace” heard the voices of Cypriot-Turkish Sevgul Uludag and Cypriot-Greek Katy Economidou and the Greek and Turkish members of WINPEACE. Katy began here speech with the following excerpt: “…One day while our children walk through the gardens, and discuss in public places, or stir up the ashes of a ruined civilization, they may not call us blessed. But they will not damn us either because they know we refuse to remain silent, to let things pass like with a dream.”