The event, hosted by Maltepe University at the Marma Congress Center, will include journalists from the BBC, the Guardian, The Huffington Post, the Daily Telegraph and The Independent as well as journalists and academics from Turkey.
The deputy undersecretary of the Prime Ministry, Dr. İbrahim Kalın, will deliver the opening speech of the event, which is sponsored by the Media Association of Turkey (Medya Derneği).
The event aims to create awareness of the Islamophobia that is on the rise as a result of the 9/11 attacks in the US and the financial crisis in Europe. Islamophobia, which is defined as "the lack of knowledge, negative thoughts and fears about Islam and prejudices against it," finds wide coverage in the media due to events such as the Danish cartoon crisis. The discussion also targets finding ways to fight against the discrimination of Muslims that is fed by Western media.
Some of the titles of the panels include "What is Islamophobia?" "Islamophobia in the Western Media," "Suggestions for Solutions to Islamophobia" and "Islamophobia and Journalism." The two-day event will also include a photo exhibition.
Ahmet Boken (TRT), Bulent Kenesh (Today's Zaman), Gema Martin-Munoz (University of Madrid), Jarome Taylor (The Independent), Mehdi Hasan (The Huffington Post UK, Al Jazeera English), Sandeep Hundal (the Guardian, The Times of London, the Financial Times), Mohamed Madi (BBC News Channel), Wajahat Ali (the Guardian, Salon, The Huffington Post and The Washington Post) are among the expected participants.