In order to establish a democratic platform for youth, women and marginalized communities in the Arab World, the Munathara Initiative will gather in Istanbul for the third time. Founded in 2011, the Munathara Initiative, established with an eye to promote voices of Arabic-speaking youth, women and minority groups across Arab countries, is holding a day full of discussion and competitions on the hotly-debated topic of Donald Trump's politics. Daily Sabah conducted an interview with Dalia Ezzat, the Chief Operating Officer of the initiative on the purpose, content and operation of the discussions.DAILY SABAH: Can you please tell us about the main objectives of the initiative and why you think the Munathara debates are the best way to provide a platform to the Arab world to voice their opinions?DALIA EZZAT: Munathara is a mission-driven organization that aims to promote a vibrant and democratic Arab public sphere by encouraging rational and constructive debates. We believe that through debate people in our region will be able to better consider the challenges they face and find the best solutions to those challenges. Free civil debate helps prevent political conflicts from descending into violent conflicts. Moreover, the training we provide our youth participants prepares the next generation to understand how to form logical evidence based arguments helping them see through emotional arguments and propaganda, something essential to an informed and engaged citizenry. These broadcast debates give youth an opportunity to have their voices heard across the region at a time when too often youth voices are absent from important national conversations. It shows how capable our youth are and we hope it will encourage more efforts to integrate them into decision making in the future.D.S: Can you please tell us about the structure of the Munathara debates? How can Arabic-speaking people join it? Is there an open call for musabaqa? How does the selection process work?EZZAT: Munathara organizes both online and televised debates throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Anyone can take part in Munathara's musabaqa (competition) by submitting an opinion video of up to 99 seconds on our current debate topic(s) which we announce on our social media accounts and website. Online voters choose six winning videos for each musabaqa - three in favor of the debate motion and three against it. The top six winners in the musabaqa get invited to the debate location where another round of voting determines the two final winners. The two winners are then paired with two prominent opinion leaders so as to take part in the live panel debate.D.S: Having opinion leaders to moderate the debates is a great idea. In the debate taking place in Istanbul this weekend, who is going to moderate the debate and how did you decide on them?We use a number of different moderators to allow our youth participants to connect with as many excellent broadcast journalists as possible. We seek moderators who are experienced in their field and excel professionally. Having different moderators for each debate also helps us reach new national audiences based on where the moderator is from allowing Munathara to extend its work to every corner of the region. The moderator of this debate will be Makki Helal, a broadcast journalist and presenter at al-Tasa3 in Tunisia. Before joining them he worked at the BBC and al-Jazeera.When choosing the opinion leaders who participate in each debate we aim to find prominent thinkers in the region who are knowledgeable and passionate about the motion being debated. We also look to promote members of marginalized groups such as women and religious minorities who often aren't given a strong public platform to share their views.D.S: Why do you pick Istanbul for the event?We've hosted two debates here before and we love coming back. Istanbul is a great choice for our debates for a number of reasons. It's a cosmopolitan city with a large Arab community that sits at the center of so many different important issues in the region today. It also helps us emphasize that our interests in elevating Arabic debates extends beyond the confines of Arab majority countries.D.S: What do you think about the recently growing Arabic-speaking community in Turkey? Should we expect more events in Istanbul from the Munathara Initiative?We already have plans to come back. We'll be here in mid-December to film DDX3. So yes, Munathara envisions an ongoing relationship with Istanbul in its future. With respect to the Arabic speaking community in Istanbul, the reason many of them are here is undoubtedly tragic. Being forced to free one's home to avoid war is always devastating. That said, we're excited to connect with the vibrant Arab community that now calls Istanbul home and we look forward to continuing to do so.