Jewish students meet in Turkey to foster interfaith dialogue

More than 500 Jewish young men and women from across Europe gathered in the port town of Sile near Istanbul as part of a summer programme organised by the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS).

Some 70 Jewish students from Istanbul joined the group in their week-long event, the first time that Jewish students from Europe held their annual summer event - called Summer-U - in Turkey.

The local Jewish community helped the group with all the arrangements in Sile, a popular summer resort area. EUJS organisers said they chose Turkey particularly in order to promote better understanding with a predominently Muslim country, adding that they were happy to have the chance to share common values and foster interfaith dialogue.

"We want to send a signal that Turkey is involved with Europe and is part of it," one EUJS official told the Turkish Daily News.

The EUJS represents 36 Jewish students unions throughout Europe, with some 200,000 members.