Turkish activist to speak at LR dinner

— An interfaith group's annual dinner this week will focus on drawing attention to the plight of Syrian refugees and the country's people.

The Institute of Interfaith Dialog of Arkansas' eighth annual dinner will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Clinton Presidential Library. The event requires tickets.

Metin Cetiner, vice president of the largest nongovernmental aid organization in Turkey, which borders Syria, will be the keynote speaker. The organization, Kimse Yok Mu, deals with Syrian refugee camps in the country's southeast.

Cetiner will address the Syrian refugee crisis stemming from the 20-month uprising and will share his first-hand experiences, the institute said.

The founders of Kimse Yok Mu, which is Turkish for "Is Anybody There?", were inspired by the screams seeking help in the rubble of a 1999 earthquake in Istanbul, the institute said.

Also at the event, Joel E. Anderson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will receive the 2012 Leadership Award. Tom Navin, director of social action and prison ministry for the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, will receive the association's Community Service Award, and Pam Baccam, reporter and anchor for KTHV, will receive the Civic Courage Award, UALR said.

More information about the dinner is available by calling Mehmet Ulupinar at (501) 223-3443 or by e-mailing iidarkansas@gmail.com.

Information about the Institute of Interfaith Dialog is available at http://www.interfaithdialog.org/littlerock.

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