By Lynette Lee Corporal

HIROSHIMA, Japan, Jun 4 (IPS Asia-Pacific/AMF) - In a religiously diverse region that is trying to move beyond a history of tribal and ethnic rivalries, violence in the media and biased history textbooks are the last things that youngsters in Central Asia and the Caucasus countries need.

This concern surfaced several times during discussions at the recently concluded Global Network of Religions for Children Third Forum in Hiroshima, Japan. The May 23-26 event gathered people of different faiths from all over the world to discuss poverty, violence and environmental degradation — three challenges that affect the world's 2.2 billion children.

The countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, also called the CENTAC nations, are Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

"Media have a great role in bringing up children. Unfortunately, the media are also the same ones that promote violence to youngsters in the form of violent cartoons," said Erkam Tufan Aytav, vice president of the Journalists and Writers Foundation in Turkey.

Recalling that he grew up watching more child-friendly cartoons such as the popular Japanese cartoon 'Candy-Candy' in the '80s, Aytav laments that violent Japanese ones such as ‘anime’ as well as the U.S-made series ‘Looney Tunes’ have replaced cartoons promoting values.

Japanese 'anime' began appearing in different countries in the 1960s, developing into a major cultural export in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, it is a key contributor to Japan's multi billion-dollar entertainment exports, the value of which is expected to reach 13.8 billion dollars by 2010.

Erkam also expressed concern about the proliferation of violent Hollywood-made movies in his country. "Youngsters should be kept away from such kinds of violence and (they) should not even be made in the first place. Media, as a very influential entity, should not promote violence," he said.

As the Central Asian and Caucasus countries continue to open up and undergo economic reforms almost 17 years after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, communication and education have become all the more important in bridging the gaps among their societies.

"The media are more free and larger now compared to the past years. There is also more interest in the plight of children. There is a need, however, to improve on the coverage and equal treatment of different issues," Mesut Tufan, Turkish journalist and filmmaker, told AMF.

The gaps include controversial textbook accounts of national histories in a region whose countries have ethnic rivalries and historical hurts.

"There are uncomfortable entries and accounts in textbooks that are now being corrected, which will greatly help in promoting tolerance and eliminating biases and discrimination," said Javed Noorani of GNRC Afghanistan.

These historical and factual inaccuracies cited in textbooks include intolerance toward women, religious, sectarian and ethnic minorities, as well as references to 'jihad'.

But Aytav said that Turkey's ministry of education has made efforts to correct biases against Russia. Both countries had tumultuous relations in the past, each accusing the other of fomenting separatist movements. "Turkey has taken steps to take out from history textbooks negative feelings of hatred, anger and suspicions against the Russians," he pointed out.

"Teaching is learning and if teach them the divisions of history, that's what they will learn. If we teach them 'Tom & Jerry' or anime, that's what they learn. And if we teach them it's all right for somebody to be poor as long as I have my aircon and ice cream, that's what they learn and we know that's not right," said GNRC-CENTAC coordinator Razia Ismail Abbasi.

According to Abbasi, better communication would help regional understanding.

"There should be a sharing of experiences on a regular basis. Share facts and connect these with moral, ethical and faith questions. There are history gaps and barriers, yes. But this we all can transcend if we all know how to communicate properly, with openness and understanding," she said.

For Aygun Huseynli of the Azerbaijan Child-to-Child Peace Network, the only way for Azeris and Armenians to bridge prejudices brought about by a violent past is to "listen to each other's sufferings".

"There are always two sides to a story, so these two sides have to listen to each other and ask tough questions," she said.

Achieving independence in 1991, Azerbaijan was involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Armenia, which resulted in the deaths of thousands and displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

"Today, the information flow between Azerbaijan and Armenia is almost nil. We don't have cultural exchanges or any other form of interaction. Both sides need to heal and we can start with small initiatives maybe through education or by exploring our common values," said Armenian sociologist Meri Yeranosyan.

Amid this environment, a concrete example of efforts to re-educate people is the creation of a book of children's stories.

"We build relationships by communicating and one way to do that is to find a common ground. We have collected children's stories, of myths and legends, from all over the region," explained Abassi. "Through these stories, we will start to realise that perhaps we have a shared past after all."

"Let the children read it, then let us all read it and understand and see what we can do afterwards," she added. (END/IPS/AMF/LC/JS/040608)