Nevşehir: Invitation to peace
Cappadocia is famous for its extraordinary, welcoming geology, which has protected and sustained many civilisations over the millennia (See following story). In recent decades the region has become a favourite destination for curious tourists from all five continents. This month, it takes on a new international role as its principle city, Nevşehir, plays host to a unique international gathering on the role of local governments in creating and maintaining peace. The conference is the brainchild of Mayor Hasan Ünver…
“Baghdad, New York, Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kabul… If only I could bring the mayors of all those cities together to clamour with one voice for peace.” This was the thought which inspired young mayor Hasan Ünver as he embarked in late 2004 on the project which leads to this month’s International Local Authorities Peace Conference. There was another thought too in the back of his mind: if only there were a city in his own country, Turkey, which was universally associated with peace-making and conflict resolution like Helsinki or Sharm al-Sheikh. Finally, if there were to be such a city, why should it not be Nevşehir, his own city of 100,000 inhabitants?
The idea was not as unlikely as it sounded at first. Nevşehir may lack a giant conference hall, but as the largest settlement in the world-famous Cappadocia region, it has plenty of hotel capacity. The area is known not only for its remarkable volcanic landscape but also for the civilisations which have come and gone there, and almost always lived in harmony.
Conference building
150,000 air kilometres later, former journalist Ünver has proof he is no idle dreamer. As a result of his efforts, mayors, scientists, artists, academics, diplomats, planners, members of international organisations and representatives of non-governmental organizations from approximately 43 countries come together in Nevşehir on September 25-28 to discuss the contribution which local government can make to a peaceful society.
The innovatory conference has been organized by Nevşehir Municipality and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in close collaboration with the Turkish Association of Local Authorities (TALA) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). It will explore all issues related to the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in saving the world from the destruction or wars and conflicts.
Among the organisations cooperating to make the event a success are the Organisation of Islamic Capitals and Cities (OICC), the Mayors for Peace Organisation, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the Arab Towns Organisation (ATO) and the International Urban Development Association (INTA). Behind the scenes, the Turkish Prime Minsitry, Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry have lent considerable support.
Big response
“With a few exceptions”, Ünver’s vision of bringing together the mayors of the world’s trouble zones is set to become a reality. Among the 400 or so mayors who will be attending the event are a large contingent from Iraq. There may also be ministerial-level participation from Egypt, Iraq and Palestine. Executive Director of UN-HABITAT Anna Tibaijuka will be present, as will Turkish government ministers. In total, the number of participants is expected to approach 2,000.
“I have been to lots of meetings in other countries,” says the Nevşehir mayor, who was elected by a large majority in March 2004, “But this will be the largest number of mayors I have seen in one place.” Ünver finds it only normal that the biggest response has come from cities which have recently witnressed conflict. “Peace is a reflex,” he explains, “A single bomb can destroy a whole city, but nobody asks us before they start a war.”
Message from Annan
The conference will begin with a reception to be given by Ünver and the President of TALA in the grounds of the Dedeman Hotel and Conference Centre on the evening of September 25. A message of peace from United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be read out at the opening session the following morning. Three days of presentations, workshops and debates will follow, accompanied by social events, a photographic exhibition with a theme of promoting the culture of peace and a municipal equipments fair.
As a measure of the scope of the occasion, simultaneous translation is to be available in French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic as well as English and Turkish. Participants and those accompanying them will also have opportunities to tour the region or visit other Turkish cities.
The conference will close on September 28 with the adoption of a Cappadocia Peace Declaration, to be formulated during the course of the conference. Other symbolic events on the programme include the lighting of a Cappadocia Peace Torch and the burial underneath it of a “letter from the mayors of 2005 to their colleagues in the year 2105”.
Cities in conflict
The official conference invitation notes that for all the efforts of governments and the international community, civil strife and armed confrontations have continued to take place in several regions of the world, and that most of these conflicts take place within national borders and in urban locations. Such conflicts and the accompanying destruction of urban environments cause great suffering to civilian populations, the invitation goes on. In addition, civic facilities such as museums, archives, libraries, schools, religious buildings, monuments and cultural values can be lost altogether, sacrificing human heritage and severing links between the past and future of our civilisations.
“As managers and advocates for sustainable human settlements development, we know very well how difficult and costly it is to construct and maintain cities. In this relation, it is our particular responsibility to save our cities from such destruction and to reconstruct and revitalize damaged areas both physically and socially,” read a statement from the organisers, adding “Local governments have a specific responsibility to contribute to resolving such conflicts in peaceful ways.”
Looking ahead
The Nevşehir conference will explore how local authorities can play more active roles for world peace by promoting a culture of peace and tolerance. It will look at what can be done to support and revitalise cities that have been physically and socially damaged by wars and conflicts. And it is hoped that a pioneering group of local authority representatives will be set up to urge world leaders to prevent potential wars and conflicts.
The peace conference is the first ever event staged by a local government organisation to which UN-HABITAT has lent its name. Under an exclusive memorandum of understanding, the international conference will henceforth be held in Nevşehir on an annual basis. No other city will be able to organise a conference with the same name. Those who miss out on this year’s occasion will be able to take part in 2006.
UN-HABITAT: no stranger
UN-HABITAT (www.unhabitat.org) is the acronym for the Nairobi, Kenya-based United Nations Human Settlement Programme. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities and adequate shelter for all. Founded ın 1978, it is no stranger in Turkey: one of the key milestones in its history was the Habitat-II conference whcih took place in Istanbul in 1996 and saw the adoption by 171 countries of the Habitat Agenda.
The programme subsequently underwent a major revitalisation. In 2002 it became a fully fledged programme of the UN system, squarely in the mainstream of the UN’s development agenda for poverty reduction. It runs global campaigns on urban governance and secure tenure, and manages projects in areas like slum upgrading, housing policies and rights, waste management, combatting crime, post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction. It also has over 150 specific technical programmes and projects under way in over 60, mostly least developed countries.
UN-HABITAT publishes the flagship report State of the World’s Cities every two years. The first Monday in every October is marked as World Habitat Day. This year, global observance of World Habitat Day will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, to remind the world of the countless homes destroyed by last December’s tsunami.
A new name: the UCLG
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a new body launched in Paris only last year by mayors and local authority representatives from around the world. It is expected to work closely with UN-HABITAT to strengthen the role of local authorities at the national and international levels. UN-HABITAT in turn is expected to work through local authorities more and more. Without strong capabilities and financial resources at the local level, it is felt, many of the problems that are assigned highest priority at the national and international levels, will not be solved. Hence the slogan “local action to achieve global goals”.
Mayors from America, Asia, Europe and Africa are represented in the UCLG by their regional associations. Local authorities in Africa elected Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Mayor of the South African capital, Tshwane (Pretoria), president of a new umbrella organisation of local governments in Africa to lead the continent at the UCLG Founding Congress.
(DIPLOMAT - September 2005 - Ankara)