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Following is an English translation of the article written by Zeynep Oral for Eleftherotypia, one of Greece's largest daily newspapers. It appeared along with an article by Margarita Papandreou. These two women together initiated the Greek-Turkish Women's Initiative for Peace (WINPEACE)

"Our Aim is the Peace Culture"
by Zeynep Oral, Turkey

How much do we know our neighbor? This question leads to another one: how much do we work, or better, how hard have we been working in order to get to know our neighbor?

I got to know Greece through poems by Kavafis, Seferis and Elytis... I got to know Greece and the eagerness for peace through the poems by Yannis Ritsos... I got to know Greece through the books by Dido Sotiriou, Kazatzakis, Vassilikos and through the music by Theodorakis, Hatzidakis and Vangelis Papathanassiou

Since that time I realized how powerful is the connection between culture and identity. I have been talking to myself saying "what would have happened if my neighbors have known my culture, my identity, as much as I know theirs?"

I have been working since 1970's for the establishment of the Greek-Turkish Friendship Association and, after 1980, at the Turkish part of the Prize for Peace and Friendship "Abdi Ipekci"

At the point when Imia crisis had reached its peak, Margarita called me on the phone and told me: "Zeynep. don't you think that the time has come for us to do something about the interests of the women in Greece and Turkey?" (I had already taken part with Margarita in many events and happenings for peace after 1985)

Not only the time had come, we were already late. We started working immediately and got together the representatives of women's organizations. The time had come. As we say in our mission statement: "We women, within the global women's movement and during our long struggle, have learnt a lot and got a lot of experience"

Nowadays, on a global scale, the leaders of the decision-making process are 96% men. women only 4%. These figures were given a year ago by the President of UNESCO, Mr. Frederick Mayor, during a meeting between Greek and Turkish journalists. We can see that the world's evolution is not so pleasant! Yes. the time has come.
Our aim was the establishment of a "peace culture"...

We know that this peace culture is our duty for the future and our children.

March, 2000