Former Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun Speaks in Rome as Vatican Ambassador

Former Director of Communications, today's Vatican Ambassador Fahrettin Altun, spoke at the event of the Caritápolitik secular community movement in Rome.

Contrary to his statements in his previous position, Altun gave moderate messages. Fahrettin Altun published the footage of his speech on his social media account.

"LIVING IN PEACE WITH DIFFERENCES"

“Can humanity learn to live together peacefully while preserving its differences?” Altun started his speech by saying, "At the basis of geopolitical crises lies a much deeper crisis, that is, an anthropological and moral crisis. Late capitalist modernity defines people in terms of what they have, consume or desire. One of the strongest assumptions of our modernity and contemporary consumer culture is surprisingly simple: If you have more, you will be happier, if you consume more, you will feel more satisfied. However, when we look around us, human experience tells us something very, very different. Because desire has no natural end. If we define happiness as the satisfaction of our desires, "We tend to increase these desires in order to be happy. However, this only makes it more difficult to be satisfied. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest paradoxes of our age and the period we live in."

He stated that religions remind people that they are not just consumers.

'DIPLOMACY IS RECOGNIZING THE EXISTENCE OF THE OTHER'

Arguing that living within differences has become easier thanks to religions, Altun stated that diplomacy has a similar function and said, "When we encounter a difference, we actually have two options. We can perceive the other as a threat or we can try to recognize it. While the first produces fear, the second makes dialogue possible. Diplomacy is the art of recognizing the existence of the other. It means listening to someone without necessarily agreeing with them. It means understanding another society without compromising one's own identity. It means looking for common ground without pretending that there are no differences. "Muslims can remain Muslims, Christians can remain Christians, believers and non-believers can still remain true to their own beliefs. Being united does not require uniformity," he said.

'WE ARE AGAINST RADICAL IDENTITY POLITICS'

Altun continued his words as follows: "On the one hand, we have a very strong, homogenizing global culture. On the other hand, we have different forms of radical identity politics. But we need a third way: Being a community without uniformity. Differences without hostility... Identities without exclusion..." Reminiscing the words of Pope Pius "And peace begins at that point," he said.