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President Khatami has said in the message read by the head of the International Center for Promotion of Dialogue Among Civilizations Ata'ollah Mohajerani that such values as peace, justice and human rights will never be achieved in the absence of freedom and amid war, dictatorships, and discrimination.
"Even peace, if achieved through war, will always be unsteady and vulnerable," added the Iranian president.
Elsewhere in the message we read, "let us take full advantage of convening the Damascus Conference and the special attention paid by my dear brother Bashar Assad, the esteemed president of the Arab Republic of Syria in that regard."
Khatami has sincerely thanked the presence of invaluable Muslim intellectuals at the Damascus conference, adding, "dialogue is an art and meanwhile a science, that has been born along with the mankind, and is always with man. It has roots in the exalted thoughts of mankind and man's look into eternity and that is why dialogue has close proximity with different faiths, particularly with Islam, that is benefitted from the eternal miracle of words."
President Khatami has argued that the Islam has not only moved constantly towards perfection through dialogue among religions and sects throughout history, but opened its arms to embrace thoughts that have no monotheist roots, such as the Greek philosophy, that entered Iran and the Islamic world through Alexandria.
"That is why we can claim that the Islamic philology has, at least based on a certain interpretation, displayed the lenience that existed among Muslims towards outsider opinions, and thus, the Islamic philosophy has emerged as one of the most blossoming and dynamic branches of the global philosophy," has added Khatami.
The initiator of Dialogue Among civilizations has argued, "that is how the Islamic philosophy proved its efficiency and practical usage in the east and the west."
Elsewhere in the message, Khatami has reflected the worries of the present day man of expansion of the flames of war, terrorism, and discrimination, when man is passing through one of the most sensitive passages of its history and welcomed the idea of holding dialogue.
He has evaluated dialogue among various cultures and civilizations as a means for building up a world worth living, where lasting peace would prevail and fears of kindling the flames of new wars would ease to exist.
"That is why Dialogue Among Civilizations is not a geographical necessity today, but a strong demand of the thought circles of the world," has added the Iranian president.
Khatami has drew the attention of the world intellectuals to the necessity to provide convincing answers to the acute questions before mankind, and to view the world developments the way it is expected of an individual to interpret.
"Today we are also witness to enmities expressed and misinterpretations made about the divine faith of Islam, in a world where distrust prevails, but such approaches have either historic roots, or have roots in tendencies aimed at exerting hegemony, or based on that erroneous interpretation of Islam, that in the name of religion, hypothesizes resorting to aggressive methods, terrorism and establishment of new dictatorships," has argued President Khatami.
He has expressed sorrow over the situation in Palestine, which has emerged due to resorting to the above-mentioned undesirable mentalities, in which the historic and cultural identity of a great nation (the Palestinians) is intended to be totally ignored, and furthermore sacrificed, arguing that dialogue can prove most efficient in such unfortunate conditions.
President Khatami has ended his message with requesting the participants at the conference to focus their attention and activities on methods aimed at safeguarding and harbinger lasting peace, justice and friendship for the mankind
The three-day Damascus Conference on How to Proceed With Dialogue Among Calculations that opened Saturday night is cosponsored by the International Center of Promotion of Dialogue Among Civilizations, Iran's Cultural Attache in Damascus and the Strategic Studies Center of the University of Damascus.
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