ISTANBUL (SW) – Salam Watandar has had a series of interviews with young Afghan migrants based in Turkey over the peace process in Afghanistan.
One of these young people is Muneera Organj, a prominent Afghan media activist, painter and poet who holds two bachelor’s degrees in journalism and general administration from Karadeniz University of Technology and has been studying in Turkey for several years now.
“The end of the nearly half-century-old war in Afghanistan, and the establishment of a lasting peace in the country, is the dream of several generations waiting for its realization,” Muneera said.
According to her, in the long war in Afghanistan, the greatest loss has been suffered by the youth, especially women who have been away from all the conveniences of life. According to her, there are many problems facing people in Afghanistan, especially the youth.
“Afghan children are forced to do hard work and Afghan youth are frustrated and have no hope for their future, and this is the most dangerous of all the problems facing the Afghan people,” she said, expressing concerns about the future of Afghanistan’s children and youth. “Because a society whose youth has no hope for the future is doomed to perish.”
She added most young people are looking for a relatively better future through irregular ways of migration. “Those who have migrated irregularly have either lost their lives or suffered from mental disorders,” said Muneera.
The young woman, who is currently studying, added that young people who are studying outside Afghanistan are waiting for peace in the country so that they can return to the country once peace is restored.
Aslam Teymour is another Afghan media and civil society activist living in a European country. He has a different view on peace with the Taliban. Aslam praised Turkey’s role in the Afghan government’s peace talks with the Taliban, as well as holding of the Istanbul conference on peace in Afghanistan, compared to other countries that have already held peace conferences on Afghanistan.
According to him, Turkey has very good relations with Pakistan and Pakistan has strong ties with the Taliban. For this reason, he said the Afghan government can make good use of this opportunity. “Although, the Afghan government’s peace talks with the Taliban have had their shortcomings from the beginning, the Afghan people are still hoping for peace in Afghanistan,” he said.
In his views, in peace talks, the Taliban see themselves as more powerful than the Afghan government because the Afghan government has not forced the Taliban to negotiate by force or military pressure. “Rather, the government peacefully called on the Taliban to hold talks for peace”, he added.
Hayatullah Bigavoglu, another Afghan refugee in Turkey, called for a promising diplomatic efforts from Afghanistan in linking peace process with Qatar, Pakistan and Russia.
This young poet and civil activist is currently working hard in Istanbul, Turkey.
He feared the stalemate in peace process would result in civil war in Afghanistan. “They are still experiencing those dark days”, he said.
The Istanbul conference on peace in Afghanistan was scheduled to begin on April 24 in Turkey, with the participation of representatives of the government, the Taliban and the countries of the region and the world, and was supposed to last for 10 days, but the meeting was delayed due to the Taliban’s reluctance to attend.
ENDS
