This reverberant policy principle of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk might be taken as a clear reminder that actions aimed at peace need to start at the local level. The big leap from Home to the World seems to provide ample room to shy away from responsibility, but it is this very same big leap that amplifies the impact of every single step, regardless of its direction.

A quick internet search on the etymology of peace reveals an interesting difference in perspectives between English and Turkish. The root of the word in English is ‘to fasten’, ‘to bind together’. The root of the word in Turkish is ‘to go or to walk together’. Both contains harmony but in a way, one is based on stability whereas the other is based on a shared future. Sometimes we are forced to believe stability and a shared future are mutually exclusive.

We take steps every day, intentionally and unintentionally, and our steps have impacts at Home and in the World. It is going to be a bigger leap towards peace if those taking steps in the direction of a stable and shared future bind together, and walk together.

Ülge UĞURLU

As part of the publication ’Columns on peace and local democracy in international perspective’, composed in honor of the farewell of Peter Knip as director of VNG International.