Turkey role model for region, Pakistani FM says

Servet Yanatma

The 34-year-old Pakistani foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, has left an impression in Turkey on a first-time official visit abroad this week, as the country received the young official with a warm welcome in Ankara.

Journalists and Writers Foundation gathers all colors of Turkey at iftar

Esra Maden

Many distinguished figures including Turkey's spiritual leaders, politicians, artists, businessmen and journalists came together at the same iftar (fast-breaking dinner) table on Tuesday night in an event held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV).

160 tons of relief supplies were sent to Somalia

The drought that has swept over East Africa has become a major human catastrophe, especially the border regions of Somalia, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. African people are struggling with death and have left their towns and cities to come to camps on the borders. Kimse Yok Mu (KYM) arrived to the region of African Horn when the crisis started and KYM is continuing non-stop to help, sending 7 containers of basic food assistance to Somalia by ship from Mersin.

ANALYSIS: Norway massacre: going beyond madness

Ahmad Ali Khalid *

Breivik was a product of Islamophobic rhetoric and his violence did not emerge in a vacuum. Breivik was no madman — he was in enough control of his mental faculties to substantiate his ideological views over a 1,500-page dossier extensively quoting journalists, writers and philosophers.

The best way to deny accountability is to run towards insanity. Even the sane welcome this prospect as long as the burdens of responsibility are lifted from their shoulders. Madness negates any shred of moral responsibility, which opens up a disturbing world. Breivik’s massacre was not an act of madness. It was a cruel and vicious act of terrorism no doubt but it was brutally calculated. There was nothing indiscriminate in his mind about his attacks — he deliberately targeted people who were part of the ruling party.

Gülen Movement and Transparency

İsmail Mesut Sezgin

The transparency of the Hizmet or Gülen Movement has long been a theme of various critics – writers, intellectuals and politicians. In the context of Turkey where secularism is deployed as a means to control religion rather than to separate it from politics, it is not hard to understand why this theme has been so popular. Since Ataturk placed severest legal restrictions on religious institutions and important sites (like graveyards and religious centres), all religious groups, in order to exist all, have been forced to give themselves a make-over. Some, such as the Mevlevis (Rumi), Bektashis and Alavis, were more successful than others at securing the approval of the authorities. However, other groups, including other Sufi movements, have to be registered with and monitored by the official authority (Diyanet) responsible for religious affairs in Turkey.

[RAMADAN NOTES] Almsgiving in Ramadan

Kerim Balcı

Muslims all over the world greet Ramadan with wishes of generosity and abundance in the grace of God. This may sound like a paradox since Ramadan is also the month of abstaining from eating and drinking, the prime worldly needs we cannot fully abandon.

Kimse Yok Mu sent first aid group to Africa

The humanitarian crisis in Africa mobilized the Kimse Yok Mu (KYM) volunteers. Millions of people are face to face with hunger in Somalia and KYM's team went to the capital Mogadishu to organize aid.