lundi 25 août 2008

Another piece of good news !

500 European Jewish students holiday in Istanbul

Monday, August 25, 2008
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Hundreds of Jewish students vacationing in Istanbul as part of the European Union of Jewish Students', or EUJS, summer program wrapped up their vacation yesterday, hoping to send Europe an important message about Turkey's relevance. The EUJS's biggest annual event, Summer-U, is a social gathering bringing together 500 Jewish students from across Europe and various locales to appreciate their common heritage while sharing in the culture of the chosen destination. This year, the 25th year of the Summer-U program, 500 students arrived in Şile on August 17 to vacation and use the opportunity to send Europe a clear message; that Turkey was part of Europe. "We want to send a signal that Turkey is involved with Europe and is part of it," one EUJS official told the Turkish Daily News.

Biggest such event in a Muslim country

Hosting the event in Istanbul had other practical benefits too the official admitted, saying, "We also wanted to foster cultural dialogue with a Muslim country. We thought it was interesting to come to a Muslim country as a Jewish organization." A previous EUJS event in Istanbul several years ago had only 30 participants, and this is the first time the organization has brought this many members to a Muslim country. The organization gives particular importance to minorities in Europe, and organizers feel that it is important for the students to have dialogue with the Muslim populations in Europe. While cultural exchange is a priority, the main purpose of the Summer-U programs is to bring a community together to preserve their common identity. "The Jewish community has a very high assimilation rate across the whole of Europe, and there might not be a Jewish identity left in a few generations. So we want to bring together young Jewish people to meet and pride themselves in this common heritage" The EUJS is a democratically elected organization that represents 34 national Jewish student unions throughout Europe, bringing together some 200,000 individuals.

2 commentaires:

Guls a dit…

I'm not sure if I am happy about this organization, as turkey being told as a muslim country...

I am sure they had a good time though :)))

Magnolia31 a dit…

Oh my Kelka !!! I still have readers !!! :) Thank you Guls for leaving the comment.

As for Turkey being called a "muslim country"... well... it is a predominantly muslim country like France is a predominantly catholic country. But I get your point too. If this organization held it's meeting in France, they would not specify that it is a catholic country. But then again, that would not make (good) news.

I think the point in this "European Jewish student organization holding its meeting in Turkey" is to stress that even if Turkey is a predominanlty muslim country, in a world where Jewish and Muslims are supposed to hate each other more than ever, European Jewish students are having a ball in Turkey because it's a European country and Islam is part of Europe, and fuck Sarkozy.