An Armenian from Turkey in Los Angeles (2)

Markar Esayan

I mentioned earlier that I had visited Los Angeles to attend the fourth Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival, held between May 15 and 19, at the invitation of the Pacifica Institute.

KADIP “Families are Meeting” Project Comes to Life

Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADIP), under the umbrella of Journalists and Writers Foundation, in cooperation with Association of Dialogue and Solidarity (DIDADER) launched “Families are meeting” project intended to enable members of diverse faiths, ethnicities and cultures to get to know each other and socialize.

Turkish deputy PM hails Gülen's role, says he is 'supra-political'

Turkey's deputy prime minister has hailed the role of respected Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, saying that his thinking and behavior are well beyond what he called the “limited boundaries” of politics.

11th Int'l Turkish Olympiads kick off in İstanbul

The 11th International Turkish Olympiads, which is a festival celebrating the Turkish language and brings together 2,000 students from 140 countries this year, began in İstanbul on Wednesday.

'Turkish schools abroad are successfully representing our country'

Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar said Turkish schools abroad are successfully representing Turkey. As officially reported by the ministry, the minister Bayraktar visited Rainbow International Turkish School in South Korea capital, Seoul.

Is the Gulen Movement Against Peace with the PKK?

Mustafa Akyol *

One of the frequently discussed issues in contemporary Turkey is the political influence of “The Gulen Movement,” or the religious network inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, Turkish Muslim scholar and preacher who has been living in Pennsylvania since 1998. While speculation about the movement includes far-fetched conspiracy theories — such as that Gulen is a “CIA agent” or “crypto Christian” — almost all observers agree that the movement needs to be taken as a serious political force in Turkish affairs.

An Armenian from Turkey in Los Angeles...

Markar Esayan

Last week I visited Los Angeles to attend the fourth Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival, held between May 16 and 19. I wanted to write about my impressions before the effects of jet lag took hold and while my memories were still fresh. I was enthusiastic as this was my first visit to Los Angeles. I wasn't enthusiastic just because I was making my first visit to a place or because I would see all the major historic or religious landmarks of Anatolia within a 60,000-square-meter area in Orange County. I also have many relatives and friends living in this city and across the state, most of whom I hadn't seen for years. Perhaps it would be possible to catch up with some of them on everything during my tight schedule.

Turkish volunteers in US rush to help Oklahoma tornado victims

Turkish charity organization Raindrop Helping Hands, a subsidiary of the US-based Raindrop Turkish House, has been helping Americans suffering in the aftermath of a powerful tornado that hit Oklahoma on Monday, leaving 24 dead.

Quality In Gulen Inspired Schools

Cemil Genc

There are currently more than 1000 Gülen-inspired schools around the world. The extraordinary achievement of Gülen inspired schools has been a clear indicator of the quality of education.Gülen inspired schools have been sharing some common values regardless of their locations in the world.

Students from 140 countries to participate in Turkish Olympiads this year

A total of 2,000 students from 140 countries will attend the 11th International Turkish Olympiads, which brings together hundreds of foreign students studying at Turkish schools around the world, this year.

Turkish businessmen gift another school to South Africa

Managers of Gaziantep based Caliskan Group and South Africa based Sumo Coal, brothers Israfil and Semsettin Caliskan, have constructed a 500-student capacity school in Pretoria, the managerial capital of South Africa. The inauguration of Star College was performed by the minister of education of Gauteng province, Barbara Creecy, in an opening ceremony hosted by a former Fenerbahce midfielder Johan Moshoe.

Fethullah Gülen, the Gülen Movement, and Turkish Politics

James C. Harrington

Gülen has not involved himself directly in partisan Turkish politics, although his message clearly has political ramifications. He believes in addressing issues and values through the democratic system, but not in aligning with a specific parliamentary party.

At British Muslim Heritage Centre in Manchester

An international conference entitled “Islam, Science and Scientism” initiated by Prof. Salim Ayduz took place at British Muslim Heritage Center in Manchester, April 27-28. Participants from a large number of countries including the United States, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey and Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt attended the event. They gave speeches offering insights into whether or not Islam is at odds with science and scientism.

We make peace with ourselves as we integrate with the world

Bülent Keneş

Los Angeles -- Turkey is quickly developing and making sure-footed progress toward a more peaceful and more prosperous future, despite a number of problems and fair criticisms.

Building bridges in Los Angeles

Yavuz Baydar

Heading to Los Angeles, I had good reason to revisit a recent article that my colleague, Dr. Şahin Alpay, wrote for Today's Zaman.

New Turkish School launched in Chad

A new school building has been launched under the umbrella of Chad-Turkish Educational Institutions active in the central African country Chad, saved from the brink of revolution in early May. In attendance of the grand opening of the school founded by the deceased philanthropist Ahmet Guner from Duzce (a province in Turkey) in the capital N’Djamena were Chad’s prime minister Joseph Djimrangar, minister of education Abdelkerim Seid Bauche, Turkey’s ambassador to Chad Ahmet Kavas, the founder Guner’s son Murat Guner and a crowded group of guests.

An untold African story - 3

Emre Celik*

My first stop during this second visit to Africa was Nigeria - the largest country by population with some 155 million people. Within a few days I also realized it was one of the busier Hizmet hubs amongst all the African countries I have visited.

Report: 'Fethullah Gulen not considered an extremist in Russia'

In the 2013 annual “International Religious Freedom” report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which conducts extensive research on religious freedoms worldwide and publicizes it annually, it is reported that Fethullah Gulen is not considered an extremist in Russia.

What if they were Grundtvig followers?

Ufuk Guvenc previously wrote a master thesis on the well-respected Danish scholar Nikolai Frederik Grundtvig (1783-1872). As argued in the thesis, Grundtwig is among the most influential figures having served the Danish culture and society in practically every field. Grundtvig is one of the primary cornerstones of the Danish religious, social and cultural life. He is regarded as a leader well-known particularly for his thoughts and practices. His view of human profoundly influenced his ideas on education as a result of which came out “The School for Life” he masterminded.

Fethullah Gülen condemns Reyhanli attack as ‘villainy'

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has described Saturday's bloody terrorist attack in Hatay as “villainy” and called on the public to remain cautious and exercise common sense in the face of the bombings.

Hizmet contribution to global peace discussed in Addis Ababa

Participants at a forum organized by the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have discussed the contribution of the Hizmet movement, inspired by well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, to global peace.The event, titled “Africa Dialogue Forum,” was attended by many high-ranking representatives from more than 40 countries.

We need the Hizmet Movement example in Tunisia

Tunisia, where the civil uprisings in the Arab world originated, recently discussed the Hizmet Movement and ideas of Fethullah Gulen. The symposium jointly organized by Hira magazine and Fadil bin Asur Research Center was entitled “Tunisia and Turkey: Concepts of Culture and Reform in the Cases of Tahir bin Asur and Fethullah Gulen”.

Yazici Visits Turkish Schools in Yemen

Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı visited International Turkish schools on the second day of his Yemen visit.

Fethullah Gulen’s longing for Turkey, after 15 Years Away from Home (5)

(cont'd from Part 4)

I Will Return to Turkey as Myself

Gulen rejects the claims that, “Fethullah Gulen’s return to Turkey will be a glorious kind of return.” He expresses that his return will be quiet and simple, in his own manner:

'We examined the Central African minister of health'

The two members of Association of the Kadirli Medical Professionals (a district of the province Osmaniye in Turkey), general surgeon Cem Oruc and anesthesiologist Ali Ihsan Atac are back from the Central African Republic.

Fethullah Gülen: Despite differences in method, peace should be supported

Yet another show of support for Turkey's ongoing settlement process -- aiming to end the decades-old bloodshed in the country -- has been voiced, this time from Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who said some people might oppose the government's method of solving the settlement process but for the sake of peace, the process should be supported by all.

Go tell your father

Ekrem Dumanli

An 84-year-old father, an experienced and grieved man, says, meaningfully: "Look, son. Most of the time, I pray to God to help Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi more than you do.” Ignoring the reactions that appear on his son's face, he then moves on to disclose a well-thought argument: "As a father, I know it hard to raise people. That's why I am telling you this. Hocaefendi has raised millions of people. He sacrificed himself to raise a generation of good people." A profound silence ensues.

PKK attacking Hizmet Movement

...the PKK-affiliated youth movement the Revolutionary Patriotic Youth Movement (DCGM-H) has still been conducting activities in the eastern cities. The DCGM-H issued a declaration in front of a university entrance preparation course in the Bulak neighborhood of Hakkari on May 3.

Fethullah Gulen’s longing for Turkey, after 15 Years Away from Home (4)

(cont'd from Part 3)

The Most Bitter Years of My Life

Fethullah Gulen describes the years he has spent away from and longing for Turkey, as the “most bitter years of my life”:

Fethullah Gulen’s longing for Turkey, after 15 Years Away from Home (3)

(cont'd from Part 2)

Why did he go to the U.S. and why isn’t he going back to Turkey?

Fethullah Gulen explains why he went to the U.S. and why he is not able to go back to Turkey, despite his great longing for home, with these words:

Oil-rich Nigeria seeks Turkish energy, construction partnerships

Turkish-Nigerian mutual trade could grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years as businesspeople from the two countries begin to show signs of greater interest in building partnerships and mutual investments.

Fethullah Gulen’s longing for Turkey, after 15 Years Away from Home (2)

(cont'd from Part 1)

Fethullah Gulen’s Longing for His Native Country

“I have had to live here for more than ten years. I would sacrifice my life fifty times for only one handful of my country’s soil, but I am here, enduring to this longing,” [Weekly online sermon, 05.09.2011] says Fethullah Gulen. He has been expressing his longing for Turkey at every opportunity for years.

Mother’s Day takes on a new meaning with Kimse Yok Mu

“Mother’s Day”, originated abroad in 1908, has been celebrated annually on the second Sunday of May in Turkey since a proposal by Association of Turkish Women in 1955.

Modest celebrations and gifts for our mothers, who are indisputably sacred and dedicated their lives to their children, allow them a meaningful break from the hectic life. However, while those desperately looking for a gift long in advance bemoan the lack of options their mothers deserve, the gifts, on the other hand, fail to go beyond being mere objects presented to enliven a short lived moment.

Fethullah Gulen’s longing for Turkey, after 15 Years Away from Home (1)

Though Fethullah Gulen has been living outside of Turkey for so many years now, it would not be quite accurate to say that he is far away from Turkey for the very fact that not only does Turkey live inside him and he himself has internalized Turkey but also for the fact that he has transformed his own room into Turkey with jars full of soil that has been brought from all corners of the country. On the contrary, he is closer to Turkey than many who are already there…

Turkey and Australia exchange views on multiculturalism

Turkish and Australian perspectives on multiculturalism and diversity differ according to experts talked at a workshop on Tuesday in Akçakoca. Discussing at the second day of the first Australia-Turkey Dialogue Workshop organized by the Abant Platform, participants agreed that multiculturalism was embraced by Australia far before it even began to be discussed in Turkey.

Fethullah Gulen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon (2)

Bill Park*

(Cont’d from part 1)

The Gülen Movement’s Transnational Educational Activities

...Fethullah Gülen propagates a kind of ‘educational Islamism’ as opposed to a ‘political Islamism’ (Agai, 2003 p50). Furthermore, education curricula should emphasize science and technology as much, or more than, they incorporate faith teaching. Gülen also advocates the transmission of spiritual, moral and behavioral values, of tolerance, respect, openness, and the like.

The Gulen Movement: A Shared Bridge between the U.S. and Islam

Peter J. Mehl *

Life is a shared bridge of “passing over” and “coming back.” It is a passing over to other cultures and faiths, not to disown one’s own heritage, but to come back to incorporate new wisdoms and insight into one’s own worldview. The Gülen Movement is one such bridge."

Why is Fethullah Gülen so influential?

Şahin Alpay

In 2008, the American Foreign Policy magazine and the British Prospect magazine asked their readers to vote for the world's top public intellectual. Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen won in a landslide.

Young Mongolians dream of studying at Turkish schools

Mongolian students, who deem the Turkish schools in the country as the keys to secure a bright future, sweated out the entrance exam of the schools.

Humanity needs a touch of magical interfaith dialogue

Arzu Kaya Uranli

I grew up in a Western, secularist, modernist educational system in Turkey. Then, when I was a young teacher fresh out of college, I was appointed by the Turkish government to teach literature in a religious school that was geared toward raising imams and religious lecturers for mosques.

The Middle Eastern voice of Europe -- Natacha Atlas

Many of her fans would say her songs touch their soul, with the rhythmic patterns of her smooth voice combining Arab and Western flavors in a harmonious bridge between East and West.

“The Blessed” Day of the Pakistani Orphans

As a part of “the Blessed Birth” activities, a largely attended event intended to uplift 500 orphans took place in the capital Islamabad, Pakistan.

Hakan in Turkey, Sukur in Africa!

I try as much as possible to read the hundreds of e-mails I receive every day. Among the hundreds comes an array of information, documents, news or photos, ranging from those that come “out of the blue” to the ones that make me say “Wow, how could we forget things so fast!” Some, on the other hand, don’t even appeal to me due to either my occupation or different area of interest.

Kimse Yok Mu volunteers care for the African orphans

Channeling the donations and sums from its fundraising activities to the region, Kimse Yok Mu branch in Denizli province takes the African orphans under its wings. Another event entitled “The Orphan” in the series was held at Denizli Police Department local facility with the participation of KYM Denizli President Fahrettin Aytug, the branch director Mehmet Tulunay, Denizli Governor Abdulkadir Demir with his wife Nurtac Demir and some 140 philanthropist women.

Fethullah Gulen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon (1)

Bill Park*

This paper investigates the apparent paradox thrown up by the distinctively Turkish roots and contents of Fethullah Gülen’s philosophy on the one hand, and the Gulen movement’s educational activities beyond Turkey and its promotion of interfaith dialogue on the other. It considers how far the movement has been able to transcend its "Turkishness".

'Fethullah Gulen Might Return to Turkey on This Condition'

Will Fethullah Gulen, who currently resides in the US, return to Turkey? One active figure of the Hizmet movement, Cemal Usak, who serves as the Vice President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation, answered this highly speculated question.

Celik: Turkish teachers beat the odds

Justice and Development Party Spokesman and Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik said the teachers of the Turkish schools operating in Northern Iraq beat the odds in the region. Following his official contacts in Erbil, Celik moved on to Sulaymaniyah where he attended the opening ceremony of Private Sulaymaniyah Primary School. In company with Celik, deputy-president of Turkish Council of Higher Education Muhittin Simsek, Sulaymaniyah Governor Behroz Salih, Mayor Yusuf Siyasi and a large number guests, as well, were in attendance of the ceremony.

Historic ijma meeting in İstanbul

İhsan Yılmaz

Last weekend, a meeting organized by the Yeni Ümit and Hira magazines and supported by the Hizmet movement aimed to elaborate on the issue of ijma, or consensus of Islamic scholars, and collective consciousness.

“True change in a society cannot be achieved through politics but through conscience and collective awareness”

The symposium “Ijma as a Common Roadmap and Collective Awareness” with participations from approximately 80 countries took place over the weekend, on April 27-28, in Istanbul. Earlier last week, several international attendees had given noteworthy remarks in advance of the event.

Fethullah Gulen’s message to the "Ijma" symposium

Fethullah Gulen sent a message to the symposium entitled “Ijma as a Common Roadmap and Collective Awareness” which took place on April 27-28 in Istanbul. Gulen’s message received a standing ovation in the hall that a large number of guests crowded into.

Largest dentistry school of Iraqi Kurdistan opened

Turkey's Ishik University has opened the largest dentistry faculty clinic in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Turkey urges humanitarian corridor in Syria to end refugee influx

In order to find a solution to the number of Syrian refugees fleeing their war-battered country to neighboring states, the creation of a humanitarian corridor in Syria that would allow for the delivery of aid inside of the country is necessary, Turkish officials reiterated at a recent meeting on the issue.

PKK's venomous mouthpiece targets the US, Fethullah Gülen

Abdullah Bozkurt

The terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) leader Murat Karayılan (whose last name literally means Blacksnake) claimed that it was, in fact, the US that killed 34 Kurdish smugglers on Dec. 28, 2011, on their way from Iraq to the Turkish border. In a specially arranged interview with four Turkish dailies on the sidelines of his showdown announcement of the withdrawal of PKK militants from Turkey attended by many reporters from a number of countries, the PKK leader said an armed US Predator drone killed all these villagers in carnage that lasted for almost two hours, without offering any evidence to back up his claims.

Iqbal university to be set up in Lahore

Faisalabad—Huge trade and investment potential exists between Pakistan and Turkey and Dr Muhammad Iqbal University will be established in Lahore with Turkish collaboration. This was stated by Mr Taner Kocyigit, Secretary General Pak-Turk Businessmen Association (PTBA), while addressing members of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) on Monday.

Erdoğan, Gülen among 10 Turkish figures in Foreign Policy 500 List

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and well-known Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen are among 10 Turkish public figures who made the 500 List of Foreign Policy magazine in its 200th issue, which it dubbed the “Power Issue.”