OSCE Conference
Remarks by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Meeting with Religious Leaders
April 28, 2004Intercontinental Hotel Library
Berlin, Germany
AMBASSADOR COATS: Let me introduce to you Secretary Powell. (Inaudible). Mr. Secretary, we selected these people at your request because they are leaders in promoting religious tolerance and understanding among different ethnic groups. They have taken -- they have been outspoken in that regard. They represent different faiths. You’d wanted to discuss this issue with them. I told them that you would probably make a very short statement and open it up for their comments and the questions and discussions. This is the Secretary’s second visit to Berlin in three weeks—it shows you the importance he places on this kind of thing and it is very appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador and thank you for assembling this group. And I thank each of you for joining us this afternoon.
I hoped this would be a learning experience for me. I am very pleased to represent President Bush and the American people at this important conference. As your Foreign Minister, my dear friend Joschka Fischer, said, it is a shame that in 2004 one has to have such a conference on the subject of anti-Semitism, but it is necessary. And as we all know, a lack of tolerance can be just not in the form of anti-Semitism but anti- anything where people don’t respect the cultures, values, religions and beliefs of someone else.
My nation is founded on the principle that you should respect the culture, values, beliefs of everyone else as long as they are not interfering with your beliefs and your cultures and values, what you hold dear to yourself. And so this was an opportunity for me to come again to Berlin, a city I have a great affection for. I have been here many times to represent America and to give a presentation to the other 54 members of the OSCE this afternoon, but also to meet with you and to learn from you. So I hope this will be a conversation amongst us. I wouldn’t mind if you got to arguing with each other so I could watch.
(Laughter).
More because I have to speak all afternoon, so I would rather have you speak now and I can watch.
But by this kind of dialogue and this kind of conversation, perhaps debate, you will send me back to the United States better informed about the situation here in Berlin, in Germany and in Europe, for that matter on how you see things. With that I would be delighted to throw the conversation open to whoever would wish to be first. And I don’t think there has ever been a reluctance on the part of any member of the Bundestag to start speaking on any subject at any time.
(Laughter).
