January 29, 2014

Afghan education minister recommends Turkish schools in each province

During a recent visit to İstanbul, Afghan Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak said on Friday that he would like Turkey to increase the number of Turkish-Afghan schools in Afghanistan, opening a school in each province as an educational role model.

Defamation campaign against Hizmet condemned by CSOs from across country

An ongoing defamation campaign targeting the Hizmet movement -- a volunteer-based grassroots movement inspired by Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen that works in the field of education around the world and encourages interfaith dialogue -- was condemned by many civil society organizations (CSO) from across the country on Wednesday.

A useful guide to understanding the Hizmet-AK Party tension

Mustafa Yeşil, head of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), of which Fethullah Gülen is honorary president, talks about the reasons for the increasing tension between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the Hizmet movement, which conducts praiseworthy activities in Turkey and around the globe with inspiration from well-respected Turkish-Islamic scholar Gülen.

On Hizmet exceptionalism

Hakan Yeşilova

Although military service is compulsory in Turkey, it has sometimes been possible to serve a greatly reduced time in the army by paying a fee. Those who benefited from this privilege would tease those spending months or years in the barracks: ‘We had to bear the entire year’s burden, with all its weight, condensed into a few weeks!’ We have had a similar feeling in Turkey since the beginning of the graft probe: The relativity of time has never been so acute.