ANATOLIAN RELIGIONS AND BELIEFS PLATFORM – ARBP
Declaration of Establishment
Anatolia has been a geography where various beliefs have existed together, since immemorial times, despite some occasional conflicts at one time or another.
Anatolia has been home to plethora of religious beliefs, sites and cults encompassing the gods of Olympus, monotheistic religions, Noah's flood, Nimrud and Abraham, the first written epic from Gilgamesh, antic settlement of Troy, and final resıdence of the Virgin Mary.
An accumulation of rich cultural and archaeological heritage, spanning over a thousand years has been entrusted to us in contemporary Turkey.
Today, our society has the experience and diversity to show to the world and to our neighbors, torn by bitter conflicts of belief and civil wars, that the people having different beliefs can live in justice and peace by nurturing mutual respect and love.
In our modern republic founded on the rich cultural heritage of the centuries of co-existence the human values accumulated in this geography,
We declare the establishment of Anatolian Religion and Beliefs Platform (ARBP) in order to:
• Consider the diversity of religion and belief as an opportunity to create a richer common life,
• Recognize and promote the areas in which different beliefs associate, and to set examples for our region and the world in the issues of commonly shared motives and themes among religions and beliefs.
• Eliminate the religious, ethnic and social contradictions with mutual respect and love, • Work for freedom of beliefs on the basis of justice and equal citizenship rights,
• Contribute to the development of the culture of living together with the aim of maintaining the peaceful lives of our citizens belonging to different religions and beliefs,
• Make efforts for people to seek and develop the divine justice that they desire so much in their daily lives, public and social spheres, in a continually divided and disintegrated world.
ARBP will conduct researches, academic studies, publications and activities in the fields specified above, free from all kinds of political and discriminatory views, and will be in constant and regular communication and information exchange with public and civil organizations.
Our platform, which will operate in accordance with the basic principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights as specified in our constitution; will carry out studies to introduce and share its principles and findings in Turkey and abroad together with national and international organizations.
One of the immediate objectives is to transform the platform into a permanent and institutional structure, the first leg of which will cover a period of twenty-four months.
The founders of the platform include the Istanbul Assyrian Catholic Foundation, the Protestant Churches Association, the Alevi Philosophy Center Association and the Constitutional Law Research Association.