Journalists and Writers Foundation bridging Eastern, Western worlds

Alyson Neel

Nestled behind a grove of trees in Altunizade sits the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which works to span the Eastern and Western worlds much like the Bosporus Bridge.

“Turkey is in the unique geographical position of being located between the Eastern and the Western worlds,” said GYV President Mustafa Yeşil, adding: “It literally is a bridge between the cultures and religions of the East and the West. We [GYV] have played a major part in building and maintaining that bridge.”

Yearning for Fethullah Gulen of Africa

Fethullah Gulen

Imagine an old, simple man with no authority, power, political ambition and grandeur yet who inspires millions to act good and inspire hope in millions of people across the globe. A man who creates enduring stories that offer a glimpse to the better side of man? Yes, such man exists and he is the Fethullah Gulen of Turkey.

Turkish Olympiads close with magnificent ceremony

Today's Zaman

A fabulous closing ceremony at İstanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome for the Turkish Language Olympiads has left bittersweet memories, signaling the end of a two-week festival full of poetry, dance, Turkish culture and music.

AVEA CEO receives students of International Turkish Olympiads

Today's Zaman

Turkish mobile phone operator AVEA's CEO Erkan Akdemir received a group of students participating in the 9th International Turkish Language Olympiads on Wednesday.

Turkish Olympiads delight 80,000 in İzmir

Esra Maden

The western province of İzmir had not seen a stadium filled with such an enthusiastic crowd since the city hosted the Summer World University Games in 2005. Nearly 80,000 spectators filled Atatürk Olympic Stadium for a show held as part of the ongoing Turkish Language Olympiads, while thousands of others followed the event on giant screens set up outside the stadium and in the city square.

Turkish Olympiad students takes stage at Şanlıurfa festival

Today's Zaman

As part of the 9th International Turkish Olympiads, Şanlıurfa festival took place at the GAP Stadium with 30,000 attendees on Sunday. As part of 24 festivals held in different provinces of Turkey, 54 international students from 18 different countries, performed at the GAP Stadium in Şanlıurfa.

Rain, a great experience for some kids at Turkish Olympiads

İbrahim Asalıoğlu

Some of the participants of the 9th International Turkish Olympiads that hail from warmer climates, such as Ahoud Al Afefi (11) and Maha Al Kadi (11) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where rainfall occurs only once or twice a year, say they were thrilled about the rainfall that welcomed them in Ankara's Kızılcahamam district, where one section of the Olympiads was held.

Turkish Olympiads gets full score from the Turkish capital

Today's Zaman

The foreign students who participated in the ninth International Turkish Olympiads visited statesmen in the Turkish capital of Ankara throughout the past week and were praised at all their visits to various institutions.

Award ceremony held in 9th International Turkish Olympiads

Anadolu Agency

An award ceremony has taken place in Turkish capital Ankara as part of the 9th International Turkish Olympiads.

Turkish becomes language of peace thanks to Olympiads

Esra Maden

When the 1st International Turkish Language Olympiads were launched in 2003 by Dilset, a publishing house, the goal was to reward students who excel in learning Turkish and to courage others.

Back then, 62 students from 17 countries took part in the event. Since 2006 the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER), a civil society organization, has undertaken the job of holding the Olympiads. Currently, the event continues in its ninth edition across Turkey with a boost in the number of participating nations and students. One thousand students representing 130 countries are taking part in the Olympiads this year.

Grammar biggest challenge for Turkish learners

Esra Maden

Learning a language is a challenge, though an exciting one for many, and every language brings along its unique challenges for learners. Some may find conjugating verbs particularly difficult in Spanish while it might be easy for others, and the pronunciation of words may be the biggest difficulty for a learner of English.

Olympiads students compete in song contest in own languages

İbrahim Asalıoğlu

Students who travelled to Turkey for the 9th International Turkish Olympiads, in which they perform in Turkish, on Friday participated in a song contest, singing songs in their native languages.

Ankara hosts Turkish language contest

An annual World Turkish language contest is being held in Turkey with hundreds of pupils from Turkish schools around the world taking part in it. Kazakhstan is represented by 33 pupils from Kazakh-Turkish high schools at this prestigious educational event. Before getting there, they made it through a tough and competitive selection process.

‘Action plan' put into action in propaganda websites

Serkan Sağlam

According to a report sent to the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court by the İstanbul Police Department around two weeks ago, the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, a suspected military plot to discredit the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the faith-based Gülen movement, was put into action on a number of websites that are believed to have been set up by the General Staff to support the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) propaganda campaigns against civilian groups.

Italian students find relief in Turkish

Esra Maden

In a southern Italian high school, many students have deemed the introduction of Turkish classes as an effort in vain because of the language's supposed difficulty due to what they mistakenly thought was caused by the use of the Arabic alphabet.

Turkish Olympiads and Sinan Çetin

Nazlı Ilıcak

It is impossible for one watching the Turkish Olympiads not be moved by it. Students coming from different parts of the world are signing songs and reciting poems in Turkish.

Turkish Olympiads poetry competition finalists stun audience, Georgia wins

Today's Zaman

Foreign students in 9th International Turkish Olympiads poetry final leg won hearts of Turks with their what they called “splendid performance” on Wednesday night. A Georgian student became first in the competition.

Students fascinate audience in Turkish Olympiads song final

Today's Zaman

Foreign students who participated in the song final of the 9th International Turkish Olympiads on Tuesday fascinated thousands of spectators with their performances in Turkish. A student from Tajikistan came first in the competition.

Prestigious Turkish Olympiad song award goes to Tajik student

Today's Zaman

Tajik student received a prestigious song award on Tuesday night in İstanbul where youth from dozens of nations have displayed superb and stunning performances in now world-famous Turkish language contest that has been able to attract millions across the globe.

Turkey's Deputy Premier says Turkish education volunteers reach countries off the map

Anadolu Agency

Turkey's deputy premier said on Monday that Turkish education volunteers carried out successful activities in the farthest places in the world.

Cultures of the world meet at Ankara festival

Esra Maden

Ankara's Altınpark hosted an important cultural festival as part of the 9th International Turkish Language Olympiads this weekend. It was a unique opportunity to see a diversity of cultures represented by children and teenagers from around the world, and Ankara residents did not miss the chance to participate in a festival where 130 countries came together in their city. From toddlers to elders, Altınpark was filled with enthusiastic visitors who had come to witness a celebration of cultures and the Turkish language.

Runner-up Olympiad performers enjoy touring Turkey

Esra Maden

Missing out on a coveted first place finish might not seem like it would be the best thing to happen to would-be participants in the Turkish Language Olympiads, but it has turned out to be an award in itself as this is how they had the chance to take a mini tour of Turkey.

Students from all around the world who were runners-up in competitions in their native lands to earn a berth at the Turkish Language Olympiads were invited to Turkey to display their talents in several Turkish provinces, stretching from East to West.

Turkish Olympiads built on legacy of linguistic, cultural interaction

Mesut Çevikalp

Some 1,000 students from 130 countries have come to Turkey to attend the Ninth International Turkish Olympics. Students from different cultures are bringing their poems, songs and folk dances to the Turkish language festival.

This year’s Olympiads, themed after Yunus Emre’s famous call, “Come and let’s get acquainted,” are much more colorful. In line with this year’s theme, students are expected to promote their own culture along with Turkish language and culture.

One language equals 7 billion people

Ekrem Dumanlı

The heading for this article belongs to the Vietnam Agency, the company that produced those wonderful advertorials for the Turkish Language Olympiads.

With information they gained after receiving the summary for the preparations of this year’s Olympiads, this was the slogan the agency had proposed. However, the organizing committee decided to use Yunus Emre’s famous call: “Come and Let’s Get Acquainted.” And this is a good development. Yunus’ sincere, concise and heartfelt call conveys the message of the Turkish Olympiads well.

Which Turks hate Israel most

Mustafa Akyol

There was an interesting story in the Daily News last week, about the cancelling of a Yuval Ron concert in Istanbul. Mr. Ron, an award-wining Israeli musician, was supposed to play his tunes in a Sultanahmet hall, but the event was cancelled at the last minute due to protests, and, allegedly, some “threats.” The organization holding the protest – but denied any threat – was the famous Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, that organized last year’s controversial Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, which was lethally raided by Israeli commandos.

Fethullah Gulen: Society not divided into Kemalists, Muslims in Turkey

Today's Zaman

There is no division in Turkish society between Kemalists and Muslims, and all citizens of Turkey know very well how to coexist with others coming from different religions, races and languages thanks to their roots in an old empire, the Ottoman Empire, according to internationally renowned Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Yemeni teenagers’ bodies in Turkey, their minds in home country

Esra Maden

The Turkish Olympiads continue in earnest with a cultural festival in Ankara. Among the 1,000 students in attendance from across the world are teenagers from the countries where the Arab Spring is taking place. As they enjoy a unique opportunity in a faraway land, their minds are not far from their countries.

Children flock to Turkey for Turkish Olympics

Hurriyet Daily News

Nearly 1,000 children from around the world gathered in Turkey for the opening of the ninth International Turkish Olympics on Wednesday in preparation for competitions in which they will display their proficiency in the language.

Turkish language festival starts with glorious opening near Bosporus

Esra Maden

The Turkish language is taking the stage in the ninth edition of the International Turkish Olympiads, which kicked off Wednesday night with a glorious opening ceremony at Dolmabahçe Palace along İstanbul's scenic Bosporus.

What Erdogan’s win means to Pakistan, Afghanistan

Naveed Ahmad

Turkey’s June 12 polls indicate that the country is moving towards two-party system with Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Adalet Ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) increasing its vote bank by 5 million since the last 2007 elections and opposition party Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) emerging strong with additional 3.5 million votes.

The AKP has won unprecedented 50 percent votes and secured 326 seats in 550-member parliament. The opposition party, CHP, bagged 25.9 per cent votes and attained 135 seats.

Turkey's election & Arab Spring

Atul Aneja

By showing that piety can coexist, if not thrive, with entrepreneurship, hard work and liberal democracy, Turkey has illuminated a path that the depressed youth in West Asia and beyond can pursue.

Turks in their millions headed for the polls on June 12 to participate in a crucial parliamentary election which is likely to have a strong bearing on not only the country's immediate future but also on millions outside, who are in the midst of an “Arab Spring.” Capturing the spirit of a series of bold pro-democracy uprisings in West Asia and North Africa, the Arab Spring promises to liberate vast multitudes in the region — from a stifling era of authoritarian rule.

The Gülen Movement, Dialogue, and Tolerance

Enes Ergene

Tolerance[1] and dialogue are among the most basic and broad dynamics of the Gülen movement. These two concepts, first developed on a small scale, have turned into a search for a culture of reconciliation on a world scale. Today, the idea of different groups peacefully living together is a philosophical issue that modern states are trying to formulate. The international relations of past empires were founded on conflict and war. Different civilizations were separated by thick walls, which were supported by political, ideological, and religious identities. Inevitably, this led to conflict. During the long Middle Ages, international relations were governed by a "law of engagement," which allowed for little space to express religious or ethnic differentiation. The domestic laws of states and empires were not exempt from this philosophy. Throughout the Middle Ages, humankind's struggle for civilization found expression in aggressive and passionate conflict. Today, with new concepts brought by globalization, the search for dialogue between civilizations and cultures has entered a new phase.

Islamic Liberalism -- The Challenges Facing the AKP

Ahmad Ali Khalid*

Muslim democrats and liberals are looking at the recent Turkish elections with a sense of anticipation and expectation.

Is the Justice and Development Party (AKP) now going to evolve further to extend its discourse of liberal democracy, human rights, economic liberalization and modernization couched within a certain cosmopolitan and pluralist Islamic ethos or has this great political experiment run its course?

Hira magazine changes perception of Turkey in the Arab world

Serhat Şeftali

Hira has been bringing together Turkey and the Arab world for six years. Actually, it would be correct to describe it as a platform, rather than a magazine. However, it is not very popular in Turkey, where only 3,000 copies out of the 40,000 printed are sold.

The remaining 37,000 are distributed to intellectuals in the Arab world via subscriptions. The Arab world has been able to connect with Turkey through Hira magazine for the last five years. With a number of workshops in Arab countries, more than 25 symposia and other similar events, Hira magazine has attracted the attendance and participation of more than 2,500 Arab scholars and intellectuals. We spoke with the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Nevzat Savaş, who spends most of his time in the Arab world, before his departure for a meeting.

130 countries to be represented at 9th Turkish Olympiads

Today's Zaman

The 9th International Turkish Language Olympiads will be held with contestants coming from 130 countries.

The Olympiads are organized by the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER). The introductory meeting for the Olympiads was held in Taksim Ceylan InterContinental Otel. The association has produced various commercial films for the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe which were shown in the introductory meeting.

Fethullah Gulen Suggests Nonviolent Options to Young Activists

Nuriye Akman

Elizabeth Ozdalga is a Swede who has been living in Turkey for the past 30 years. Her husband, Haluk Ozdalga, is a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) administrative staff. Mrs. Ozdalga received a scholarship from the Education Ministry when she came to Turkey in the early 1970s.

CHP insults AK Party, voters with provocative banner

Resul Cengiz

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has come under fire once again with a banner it displayed in one of its election offices in Denizli, which featured a caricature in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was depicted as a sultan driving a train and a group of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) voters as passengers in the wagons of the train.

Bahçeli's comments on Fethullah Gülen to likely cost MHP votes in Erzurum

Abdullah Bozkurt

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli's attacks on leading Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen during election rally speeches has had a major disenfranchising impact on his potential voters in Erzurum province in eastern Turkey, the birthplace of Mr. Gülen himself.

Fethullah Gülen and the 'People of the Book'; A Voice from Turkey for Interfaith Dialogue

Dr. Zeki Saritoprak * & Dr. Sidney Griffith **

The term "People of the Book" or Ahl al-kitab is mentioned in the Qur'an twenty-four times, referring to Christians and Jews in particular. The context of these Qur'anic references varies. Some of these verses praise the People of the Book for their righteousness and good deeds and faith in the Afterlife (Qur'an 3.113). Other verses rebuke the People of the Book for not following the way of God (Qur'an 3.99). A group of these verses invite the People of the Book to a common ground between Muslims and themselves (Qur'an 3.64). Another group of these verses indicates an intimate relationship between Muslims and Christians (Qur'an 5.82). The relationship between Muslims and the People of the Book, Jews and Christians, has been a subject of discussion among Muslims throughout the centuries. Islam's long-time ecumenical roots are easily traced to the famous verse in the Qur'an:

The Kimse Yok Mu operations orientation program was held in Ankara

Kimse Yok Mu launched a reception to present how it carries out projects all around the world on the evening of May 23 in Ankara. Selma Aliye Kavaf, Turkish Minister of State, senior bureaucrats and government officials joined the participated in the program and were given information about the organization's activities, especially in the international arena.

Genes of Turkish media, clichés of the West

Abdülhamit Bilici

Mehmet Ali Birand, who has been serving in the Turkish media for many years, recently made some historic confessions on the negative role journalists played in coups that undermined democracy in Turkey, saying, ““Yes, we did have pro-coup thoughts in our genes...”

Birand: General Staff ordered broadcasting of anti-Fethullah Gülen recordings

Today's Zaman

Journalist Mehmet Ali Birand has claimed that the General Staff ordered the broadcasting of anti-Fethullah Gülen audio recordings by some TV stations in the run up to the Feb. 28, 1997 unarmed military intervention.

In 1997, uneasy with the presence of a conservative party -- the Welfare Party (RP) -- in government, the General Staff forced the party to step down. The event has since come to be known as the “postmodern coup.” The RP was later closed down.

A Universal Islamic Phenomenon in Turkish Religious Practice: the Gülen Case

Maimul Ahsan Khan*

Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gülen started his professional career as a traditional imam, trained and certificated by the governmental authorities in Ankara. His innovative ideas of educational and social reform have made him a household name in modern Turkey and increasingly around the world for several decades now. In 2008 he was recognized as the most influential intellectual in the world in a prestigious survey by Foreign Policy journal.

Gülen and those inspired by him have presented a new kind of Islamic intellectualism and altruism coupled with a deeper sense of activism and spirituality that has been missing from many contemporary Muslim movements of the twentieth century. The failure of many politically oriented Muslim movements around the world finds no reflection in the preaching and writing style of Gülen. The revival of other religious groups or non-Islamic religious traditions has not discouraged Gülen in any way from shaping his own ideals of spreading value-based education and people-oriented spirituality and cultural activities.

Reconciling Democracy and Islam

Muzaffar K Awan, M.D.

‘Allamah Iqbal’s (b. 1877 d. 1938) and Fethullah Gülen’s (b.1938) ideas about democracy in the Islamic context are very similar. ‘Allamah Iqbal had indeed made a proposal of spiritual democracy to the ummah in his “Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” in his 6th lecture in 1930. We find that many Islamic scholars of today have accepted the idea of democracy and Islam being compatible. Iqbal indeed did not like the idea of importing the Western democratic system and transplanting it as such in the Islamic world because of its extreme secular stance. He still suggested in his writings that there was no alternative to democracy in the Muslim World. Iqbal observed that if the foundations of democracy were to rest upon spiritual and moral values, it would be the best political system for the world. He wrote in the “The New Era” July 28th, 1917 issue: “Democracy was born in Europe from economic renaissance that took place in most of its societies. But democracy in the Islamic context is not to be developed from the idea of economic advancement alone; it is also a spiritual principle that comes from the fact that every individual is a source of power whose potentialities are to be developed through virtue and character.”

Religion and Politics in Turkey: To Talk or Not to Talk

Oliver Johnson*

In 1933, after the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt set on enacting a broad, far-reaching and eventually hugely successful set of economic policies that came to be known as the New Deal. The New Deal entailed, among others, measures to create jobs for the less advantaged and vastly improve the social security network. Monsignor John Ryan recognized in the New Deal the potential to help the vast majority of the American Catholics, most of which fresh immigrants from impoverished regions of Europe, to escape poverty and improve their social and economic standing.

Turkish team for International Science Olympics chosen

Today's Zaman

Turkey's team for the International Science Olympics has been finalized and will consist of 23 students, the highest number of whom are from the Ankara Private Samanyolu College.

Poll: Public believes MHP sex tape quake work of ‘external forces'

Today's Zaman

The release of sex tapes involving some members of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has been coordinated by dark or external forces that are trying to reshape the administration of the opposition party ahead of or after the June 12 general elections, according to the findings of a newly released opinion poll.

The poll was conducted by the MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center.

Zambian President opens Turkish school, commends quality of education

Times of Zambia

President Rupiah Banda has advised the Ministry of Education to pay serious attention to privately-run schools that are low on quality, efficiency, purpose and focus.

Mr Banda said yesterday that when parents pay considerable sums of money they should be able to reap significant harvests of good character formation in their children.

Speaking when he officially opened Horizon Primary and High School in Lusaka's Kabulonga area, Mr Banda said for some schools, poor character among children was still a challenge.

What is Islam's Gulen movement?

Edward Stourton

Turkey's Gulen movement, which promotes service to the common good, may have grown into the world's biggest Muslim network. Is it the modern face of Islam, or are there more sinister undercurrents?

From Kenya to Kazakhstan, a new Islamic network is attracting millions of followers - and billions of dollars.

Inspired by a little-known Turkish imam, the Gulen movement is linked to more than 1,000 schools in 130 countries as well as think tanks, newspapers, TV and radio stations, universities - and even a bank.

Lack of grounds for legal action against Fethullah Gülen

Today's Zaman

The specially authorized Ankara Deputy Prosecutor's Office announced on Friday that it had found a lack of grounds for legal action taken against renowned Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in an investigation launched against him -- which were based on allegations of a controversial book written by now-arrested Police Chief Hanefi Avcı.

In his book released last year “Haliç'te Yaşayan Simonlar” (Simons in the Golden Horn) Avcı argues that the Ergenekon trial is a conspiracy run by the government to silence its critics but acknowledges he has no proof to back up his claims. He also asserts judges and prosecutors investigating military plots to topple the government are linked to Gülen, who he accuses of secretly planning to overthrow the institutions of the state, including the police.

Ankara prosecutor rules out charges against Fethullah Gülen

Hurriyet Daily News

Ankara’s chief prosecutor with special authority has dropped an investigation into allegations leveled against religious leader Fethullah Gülen by arrested ex-police chief Hanefi Avcı, reports said Friday.

There is no reason to prosecute Gülen and another individual known only by the initials O.H.Ö., Ankara’s special public prosecutor concluded Friday following an investigation.

Unethical to accuse Fethullah Gülen over MHP crisis, says CHP deputy

Today's Zaman

It is wrong to accuse Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen or anybody else over a recent scandal in the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), in which 10 senior party members were force to resign when anonymous individuals posted online sex-videos of three MHP members and threatened to post more if certain other party members didn't resign, CHP deputy Mustafa Özyürek has said.

Being forced to submit to the military

Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı *

Let me start by highlighting a fundamental fact: The Turkish military guardianship regime cannot possibly change without the full support and leadership of religious people.

In fact, liberals, left-wingers, Kurds and non-Muslims in this country have been aware of this fact for a while. This is not new information for them, but due to the influence of old habits, they provide sterile and polished statements in their political analyses.

A Kurdish TV station

İhsan Yılmaz

Last week, I visited a local Kurdish-language TV station that is based in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, Dünya TV.

MHP and tapes: Who does this and why?

Hüseyin Gülerce

We are all curious about the answers to two questions concerning sex tapes that were made public, after which 10 senior Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) members were forced to resign: Who did this? And why? For a proper answer, we have to consider the only available precedent. The first precedent and example of a sex tape scandal that had political consequences was the resignation of Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal from the party chairmanship.