Deputy PM to lobby for alliance of civilizations

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay went to the United States to attend meetings of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations project and to secure strong participation in the project's next meeting in Istanbul.  "I will hold talks with U.N. officials so as to increase the number of participants at the Istanbul meeting in May," Atalay told reporters in Istanbul prior to his departure, Dogan news agency reported. Atalay, the Turkish official responsible for the project, was scheduled to meet with U.N. officials today and yesterday. The Alliance of Civilizations, established in 2005 as an initiative of Spain and Turkey under the auspices of the U.N., seeks to address tensions across cultural divides that threaten to inflame existing political conflicts or trigger new ones.