Within the framework of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, Turkic Council Project Directors Pelin Musabay Baki and Ceyhun Şahverdiyev, participated in the meeting entitled "Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and the SDG Agenda" co-hosted by Silatech Foundation, the Center on International Cooperation and Qatar on 20 September 2017 in New York.
The meeting underlined that the 16 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, all with the theme of "peace, justice and strong institutions", are the guide for countering violent extremism and highlighted strengthening young people and women in this context is of crucial importance. However, it was stated that the media and religious leaders have an important position for raising public awareness on this issue. On the other hand, the Youth Envoy of the UN Secretary General, who was among the speakers, referred to the UN Resolution 2025, adopted in 2015, which expresses the important role of youth in fight against violent extremism, and as stated in this decision, she indicated that it is necessary to pay a particular attention to the `prevention` in its realization process.
Project Directors took the floor during the meeting and informed the participants about the results of the International Conference on “The Role of Youth in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism” co-organized by the Turkic Council and the UN Alliance Civilizations (UNAOC) in October 2016. On this occasion, the Project Directors also conveyed information on the concrete cooperation project planned to be carried out together with the UN Development Program.