President attends Vilenica 2010 award ceremony

Lokev, 4.9.2010  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended the Vilenica 2010 International Literary Festival award ceremony. In his address, he emphasised that the Festival is a symbol of the openness of Slovenian culture and Slovenians to Europe, the world and all other cultures.

President Türk said that this year's laureate, D¾evad Karahasan, comes from a part of Europe sometimes called – and not always with the best intentions – "the dark vilayet". As he explained, this term refers to an administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire where prisoners were sent. Bad things happened there, but good things emerged at the same time. He pointed out that Slovenia should make further efforts to grasp the significance and the message of cultural traditions and cultural wealth originating from the historical experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to President Türk, we live in a globalised world, a world of fast and superficial communications and a world in which we have become used to talking about terms such as the contact of civilisations, the dialogue of civilisations, a clash of civilisations or an alliance between civilisations. However, more often than not, these political terms relate to relationships between civilisations which remain at the surface of political and sociological phenomena, sometimes even excessive phenomena. For this reason, there is an even greater need for a deeper insight to be provided by this year's Vilenica Prize laureate, said President Türk.

He added that he had read passages from D¾evad Karahasan's works with great interest because they talk about the search for the essence of a human being as a being of reason and a being of love, as a being both critically perceiving and accepting the world.