Hürriyet chair Doğan Sabancı: People must learn to 'co-exist'

People of the world should "acquire the ability to co-exist" as they are closely interdependent to each other in the modern day in the face of intertwined threats, daily Hürriyet Chairwoman Vuslat Doğan Sabancı has said.

"A threat in one place has an instant effect on the other side of the world. We have seen this in the field of finance, global finance, public health and climate change, and now we are seeing it in the refugee crisis and also terrorism. Anthropologists tell us that for most of human history, the vast majority of humans interacted with just 100 other humans over their whole lifetime. Today many of us interact with 100 different people a day. So we have to acquire the ability to co-exist. Otherwise the 21st century is going to be a nightmare for all of us," said Doğan Sabancı. 

Delivering a speech for the Columbia University's World Leaders Forum panel titled "Fostering a Better Conversation and Understanding of Islam: The Vital Role of Media" on Feb. 21 at the university's upper Manhattan campus, Doğan Sabancı began her speech by saying that she is Muslim woman who "lives my faith as I believe."

She said in her public life she lives a "secular way of life" and is an ardent supporter of freedom of the press and human rights as businesswoman and a publisher. 

Doğan Sabancı also said she sincerely appreciates secular law, which provides an unbiased approach toward everyone in society and "enables the development of science, technology, civil rights, education and economy in Turkey." 

Touching upon the privilege of being a Columbia graduate, Doğan Sabancı said when she graduated her generation believed that the world was going to be a "one big global family" and that the digital media would enable the news to...