Forty students, aged 15-18, from Greece, Turkey and the two communities in Cyprus participated in the 17th WINPEACE Worskhop on peace education, conflict resolution analysis, social entrepreneurship and communication skills that took place on July 22-29 at the Technical Educational Institute in Heraklion, Crete.
According to the press release, the youth learned how to live together and create their own community as well as be exposed, among other skills, to innovative ways of building a peace culture by resolving problems non-violently and following principals of gender equality and human rights. The workshop culminated with the design process of social entrepreneurship.
Their educators were Jennifer Sertel, trainer in conflict resolution and communication Istanbul, Turkey and Aybike Oguz, trainer in social entrepreneurship in Istanbul, Turkey, Mine Atli, lawyer, peace activist at KAYAD, Neshe Dervish, peace activist, Maria Hadjipavlou Professor at the University of Cyprus, peace activist and gender equality and Fotini Sianou, activist for peace, human rights, non-violence at the Center for Research and Action on Peace (KEDE) in Athens.
According to the press release the students evaluated their experiential learnings from this year’s workshop.
A Greek student said: “This camp is a miraculous event that is – every year since 2000 – assembled by those who hope; namely professors, teachers and peace activists from Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. This camp has a purpose. It is to bring peace to the whole world. Having though understood that baby steps should be taken every time, we started from the resolution of the Cypriot issue. We had for a week a condensed program which was full of seminars concerning conflict resolution, non-violent communication, human rights, gender equality and may other aspects of what has been forgotten, all based on the principles of humanism.”
A Cypriot student said that “throughout the years, the small island of Cyprus has amassed a large history of never-ending conflict and violence. To represent Cyprus, be it Northern or Southern Cyprus, is to represent the entirety of a politically tense history, a divided island, and above all, an intense desire for peace. For this reason, the WINpeace camp meant much more than a week of summer activities – it encapsulated the core of the Cyprus issue and brought into the spotlight the younger generation’s desire for a world where harmony and peace prevailed.”
A Turkish student said that “for many of us that came from Turkey, participating in this workshop served as a constructive act of response against the polarizing forces at work in our societies and the world. These forces exist deep within our inner selves and carry and reinforce deeply rooted alienating prejudices about how we perceive the `others`. By coming to Crete and interacting with our Greek and Cypriot friends throughout the peace-building activities, we stood up against the bigger forces that don’t want us to come together. But most importantly, we stood up against that judgmental inner critic we are all taught to have.”
