UN alliance of civilizations chambers opens in Geneva

The Chamber for Human Rights and the Alliance of Civilizations in the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland was opened in a ceremony yesterday. Among those attending were Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and State Minister Mehmet Aydin, along with Spanish King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Jose Angel Moratinos, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Jorge Sampaio. "If the will shown by our leaders translates into effective action, the Alliance of Civilizations can be a 21st century peace project," Erdogan told the ceremony. "Spanish flamenco and Turkish Sufi music give the same message, and though Rumi and Cervantes used different languages, they showed the same spirit."