Journalists and Writers Foundation at UN ECOSOC annual meeting

Journalists and Writers Foundation attended UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) annual meeting, in attendance of which were ambassadors, ministers or other senior officials of UN member countries, in Geneva. In his speech at the meeting, JWF’s Abant Platform Secretary General Huseyin Hurmali detailed on the contributions of the educational institutions inspired by JWF Honorary President Fethullah Gulen to sustainable development, promoting education, pluralism and peace building.

Gursel Tekin: Gulen’s remarks on the third bridge are valuable

Republican People’s Party Deputy Chairman Gursel Tekin gave the daily Zaman noteworthy statements on Turkey’s heated agenda. Speaking of the controversies over naming the third bridge as “Yavuz Sultan Selim”, Tekin expressed his support for Fethullah Gulen’s remarks, saying, “Let’s not sacrifice all the bridges to build one. To me, we should not ruin the order when an atmosphere of breaking bread among Sunnis- Alevis and all pervades.” “These words are certainly right and valuable. We definitely shouldn’t destroy thousands bridges of brotherhood built to date for the sake of one,” Tekin said. Arguing that when unsolved troubles persist, another one shouldn’t arise in the form of a controversy over a bridge’s name, Tekin further said, “We shouldn’t let this disturb out thousands of Alevi fellows.”

Archbishop Makgoba: Turkey's religious tolerance answer to extremism

Turkey has an important message for religious fundamentalist as it is an exemplary country showing the world that people of different faiths can live with one another, Thabo Cecil Makgoba, South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, says.

An analysis of Gülen’s Humanism

Heon J. Kim

Gülen’s perception of humanism is at the heart of his thought, so much so that it serves as the reason for the existence and activities of the Gülen movement. My attempt here is to lay bare some constructional and distinctive characteristics of Gülen’s humanism.

“We will celebrate a new world”

Abdülhamit Bilici

They built our hopes up with their peace and fellowship messages at a time when our morale was shattered by the sudden outbreak of a snowballing tension, when the world media was airing pessimistic images of our country 24/7, and when we were longing for even the slightest good news.

Before the Lights are Out…

M. Nedim Hazar

You know how the poet that says, “Bleeding a thin line, my chest/Watched in wonder, amazed!” This was the exact situation I found myself in. It was a sorrowful moment, one that weighs you down, when the tears that have welled up in your eyes push themselves down your cheeks… It was as full of hope as it was baffling. And that was precisely our consolation, indeed it was.

Kimse Yok Mu to provide 288,000 food packages, iftar meals to over 1 mln in Ramadan

The Kimse Yok Mu charity will hand out 288,300 food packages to people in need as well as host iftars (dinners to break the daily fast) serving 1,168,000 people throughout Turkey and 103 other countries during the holy month of Ramadan.

Final Declaration of 29th Abant Platform Forum “Africa: Between Experience and Inspiration”

- We, the participants of the 29th Abant Platform Forum on “Africa: Between Experience and Inspiration”, held at Abant/Turkey on 28-30 June 2013, hereby, welcome the initiative of Journalists and Writers Foundation/Abant Platform, for a long and lasting partnership, based on mutual respect, goodwill, compassion and understanding between the Peoples of Africa and the People of Turkey.

Minister Çelik supports Gülen’s call for Alevi-Sunni brotherhood

Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik has supported the call “Let the mosque and the cemevi be side by side,” by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Sufi influences in Gülen’s early life

Mustafa Gökçek

Fethullah Gülen is primarily a scholar, who, while far from establishing a Sufi order, aims to revive and combine the activism of Prophet Muhammad and his companions, the asceticism of the first generation Sufis, and the Sufi terminological knowledge and consciousness of the later Sufi scholars. At a time when the gap between Sufis and their major critique salafis increase, Gülen’s main goal is to reestablish Sufism on the basis of Quran and Sunna. Gülen’s most significant contribution to the Sufi literature is his emphasis on religious activism. In Gülen’s Sufi approach the passivism, asceticism and exclusive focus on inner world under the guidance of the sheikh in many of the early Sufi works are replaced with purification of the self through continuous struggle and action within the community under the direct guidance of Quran and Sunna. This approach offers a new equilibrium within the Muslim world and promotes a peaceful and tolerant understanding of Islam coexisting peacefully with the non-Islamic communities.

Supporters and Critics of the Gülen Movement

In their article “A Contextual Analysis of the Supporters and Critics of the Gülen/Hizmet Movement” (*), authors Loye Ashton and Tamer Balci make an analysis of the Supporters and Critics of the Gulen/Hizmet Movement.

Mandela and Gülen

İbrahim Özdemir*

(This story was written during the darkest days of the so-called Feb. 28 process and was published in the Zaman daily on Dec. 21, 1999. Today the whole world is focused on Nelson Mandela who has been in hospital for the last few days. I think it is time to rethink the message given by two great leaders of our time, Mandela and Fethullah Gülen, a decade ago at the Parliament of the World's Religions. We join in the prayers for Mandela and wish these two great leaders health and peace.)

Africa pledges further cooperation with Turkey based on mutual respect

At the three-day meeting of the Abant Platform from June 28-30 to discuss Africa, participants from both Africa and Turkey agreed to intensify cooperation based on their mutual respect, goodwill and understanding.

No place for excuses!

Ekrem Dumanlı

Mr. Fethullah Gülen, a well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar, has made a very important statement. He says when we consider that people are endowed with rights and freedoms indiscriminately by God, we understand that no one has the right to introduce prohibitions against certain groups. This principle should be applied to the Kurdish issue. Mr. Gülen's remarks on education in one's mother tongue is a high-level democratic move. Mr. Gülen suggests that "some private schools can provide education in Kurdish for a while until proficient teachers who are capable of teaching in Kurdish are trained, and then the number of schools providing education in Kurdish will increase." While saying this, Mr. Gülen also underlines the importance of Turkish as it is a part of Turkey's reality.

Future's continent and African renaissance

Bülent Keneş

Over the last three days since Friday, the issues and the glamorous developments of the African continent have been discussed in a hotel along the magnificent Abant Lake.

Arinc: Gulen lights the way for us

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc reflected on Fethullah Gulen’s remarks, saying, “We shouldn’t label anyone as capulcu (looter) or the like” on the recent Gezi Park incidents.

Better late than never: Gülen’s Kurdish education initiative

Ruşen Çakır

Because of the Gezi Park resistance, several issues of Turkey have been forgotten, left behind in the shade. The most important of them no doubt are the Kurdish and the PKK issues and the “resolution process” aiming to solve both of the issues. So much so that at the final meeting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held the other day with the Wise People delegation, two wise men, Mural Belge and Baskın Oran did not attend because of the prime minister’s attitude at the Gezi Park process. Also the comprehensive reports prepared by the wise people did not get the attention they deserved because of the details that have caused disappointment in the speech Erdoğan has delivered.

Abant Platform discusses thriving relations between Turkey and Africa

The unprecedented level of interaction between Turkey and Africa was the dominant theme of the 29th meeting of the Abant Platform on Friday, which convened with the theme of Africa in Abant, Bolu.

Abant Platform on Africa

İhsan Yılmaz

For three days I will be away from Turkey's increasingly suffocating internal politics. For this reason alone I am grateful to the Journalists and Writers Foundation, organizer of the Abant Platform on Africa.

Education in mother tongue

Orhan Miroglu

The Wise People Commission has prepared a report on its two months of work and submitted it to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Malawian President Thanks Kimse Yok Mu

On June 16, Kimse Yok Mu (KYM) volunteers, geared up to assist Malawians, delivered 40 thousand dollars worth of humanitarian aid to the orphans and guardian parents across the country. In addition, KYM distributed sacrifice meat equivalent of 301 shares slaughtered with the contributions of philanthropists.

Abant Platform on Africa to convene on Friday

The 29th meeting of the Abant Platform, to focus on Africa, will be held from June 28-30 on Lake Abant in the province of Bolu.

Minister Yazici Visits Kazakh-Turkish High School

Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici visited the local Nurorda International Kazakh-Turkish High School besides his official visits on day-two of his Astana itinerary.

Mr. Gülen's felicitous advice

Bülent Keneş

The interview Mr. Fethullah Gülen, a well-respected Turkish-Islamic scholar, gave to Rudaw, an online newspaper in northern Iraq's Arbil, resounded powerfully in the Turkish media.

Dogan: Gulen earned sympathy among Alevis

Speaking of Gulen’s “mosques-cemevi project” proposal, Dogan said, “Gulen is an exceptional intellectual who can identify conspiracies against Alevis and Sunnis.”

Cem Foundation President Izzettin Dogan

Cem Foundation President Prof. Izzettin Dogan gave noteworthy statements to the daily BUGUN concerning the recent issues ranging from Fethullah Gulen’s remarks “Let’s not sacrifice all the bridges to build one. Mosques and cemevis should be side by side” to ongoing heated debates. Highlights from his statements are as follows:

Gülen calls for broadening freedoms, improvement in Kurdish rights

Well-known Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has encouraged the broadening of rights and freedoms of people and the improvement of ties with Kurds to restore peace and security in areas long plagued by a simmering conflict that has killed at least 40,000 people.

'Gulen movement wants to participate in the globalization'

An interview with Ali Bulac*

"if there had not been opportunities to become a community and join a community, Turkey would have ended up in a far more complicated and problematic situation. Community protects [individuals] from culture shocks, provides dynamism, and produces a new human being. In this respect, the Gulen movement is the most successful community."

Saudi Scholar al-Qarni Preaches Tabi’in at Salatin Mosques

One of the most celebrated scholars of Saudi Arabia and the Arab world at large, Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni delivered sermons on “Tabi’in” (a referral to the people who lived in an age right after the Prophet Muhammad's companions' generation) at several salatin mosques (mosques built by Ottoman sultans) in Istanbul, on June 1 thru 9. The sermons that kicked off at Fatih Mosque continued for nine consecutive days. Having arrived in Istanbul for “Tabi’in’s Flags” project by Saudi Arabia-based Iqra TV, Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni made noteworthy comments on Turkey and Hizmet Movement, in his interview with Cihan News Agency.

Children from all over the world embarked on Turkish voyage

Around 22 years ago, Fethullah Gülen said, “The day will come when you will no longer fit into the stadiums.” In fact, it turned out to be true.

First “Families Meeting” series concludes with a spectacular night

The first series of “Families Meeting” project, intended to bring together the members of diverse cultures, faiths and ethnicities and let them get to know each other, by Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADIP) in cooperation with Foundation of Solidarity (DIDADER), came to an end with a final gathering at Syriac Catholic Church.

Turkish Olympiads - A Blessing from God

Dr. Ali Bayram

We had no idea in our world, what it was like abroad. All we used to know was our village, town or our province at best. The saying “Destination Antep, food molasses!” fittingly portrays our case, indeed.

Gülen Movement and Turkish Integration in Germany

Jill Irvine*

The issue of the integration of the Turkish community into German society has grown in importance since the events of 9/11 and the ensuing “war on terrorism.” There are two, perhaps contradictory, forces presently at work in Germany concerning its large, mainly Turkish, Muslim population. On the one hand, there is a growing fear of the Muslim community in Germany. On the other, there is a sense that integration must be tackled seriously and approached differently than it has been thus far. The Gülen movement is currently attempting to pick its way carefully between these two forces in promoting its vision of integration.

A reasonable statement from Fethullah Gülen

Orhan Miroğlu

The statement made by Fethullah Gülen regarding the choice of the name Yavuz Sultan Selim for the third bridge over the Bosporus that is to be built by the government will certainly enrich the ongoing debate about this issue and will lead to a reconsideration of using this name.

Prominent Alevi leader welcomes Gülen's remarks on bridge controversy

Fermani Altun

Fermani Altun, head of the World Ehl-i Beyt Foundation, a leading Alevi association, has welcomed Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen's recent remarks in which he stressed Alevi-Sunni brotherhood amidst an ongoing debate over the naming of a new bridge after an Ottoman sultan considered controversial by Alevis.

Istanbul's global summit secures deals worth millions

A global trade and investment summit organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) in İstanbul has seen companies from around the globe ink deals worth millions of dollars in construction and furniture.

Gülen: Alevi-Sunni brotherhood should not be marred by bridge controversy

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has emphasized Alevi-Sunni brotherhood in comments on ongoing controversy over the naming of a new bridge to be built over the Bosporus after an Ottoman Sultan who Alevis say is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Alevis in the early 16th century.

Çağlayan: TUSKON Trade Bridge soon to be global brand

Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said Tuesday that the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists' (TUSKON) Turkey-World Trade Bridge summit, which opened its doors to visitors from around the world on Wednesday, is on its way to becoming a global brand as it gets better every year.

The International Justice Conference Hailed a Major Success

Prof. Manuel A. Knoll, from Department of Philosophy, Fatih University in partnership with the Abant Platform, organized an international three-day event regarding pluralism and conflict. Over 50 academicians from around the world got together for ‘Distributive Justice Beyond Rawls and Consensus’ Conference in Fatih University, Istanbul on June 6-8, 2013. Conference was attended by some of the well known scholars in their fields such as; Prof. Giovanni Giorgini, Bologna University, Prof. Harun Tepe, Hacettepe University, Prof. Ulrich Steinvorth, Hamburg University, and Prof. Jonathan Wolff, University College London.

Students visiting Turkey bid one another a teary farewell

Students who came to Turkey about four weeks ago to compete in the 11th International Turkish Olympiad -- a competition in which Turkish speakers from around the globe recite poetry, write essays and sing songs -- bid one another teary farewells during the Olympiad's closing ceremony in İstanbul on Sunday night.

Izzettin Dogan: Turkish Olympiads achieved what UN couldn’t

Cem Foundation President Prof. Izzettin Dogan said that the Turkish Olympiads project initiated by volunteer NGOs is of great significance for global peace. “It’s not an easy task to lead children of diverse colors and cultures towards a common goal. Even UN couldn’t achieve that” Dogan said.

'Locals abroad ask me to pull strings for admission to Turkish schools'

Chairman of Fiba Group Board of Directors Husnu Ozyegin argued that the Turkish Olympiads are more important than Olympic Games. He further said the locals in Turkish schools’ home countries are asking him to pull strings in order to get their kids admitted.

Global peace as a dream to follow

Begüm Burak*

Every dream can come true if we have enough courage to follow it.

Students give International Turkish Olympiad a moving sendoff

The 11th International Turkish Olympiad, a competition in which Turkish speakers from around the globe recite poetry, write essays and sing songs, wrapped up on Sunday with a ceremony at İstanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium.

Alaton: I’m telling everyone about Turkish schools’ contribution to world peace

On June 12, the Turkish Olympiads children from around the world visited the businessmen Ishak Alaton and Mustafa Suzer. Referring to the Turkish Olympiads event as a “grand organization”, Ishak Alaton said he’s been telling his circle about the Turkish schools’ high quality education and contribution to global peace.

The key to security and peace

Ekrem Dumanli

They attended qualifying competitions for the 11th International Turkish Olympiad, a festival that celebrates the Turkish language, at locations around the world.

Turkish Olympiads close with perfect ceremony

A spectacular closing ceremony at İstanbul Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadium in front of 200,000 spectators for the 11th Turkish Language Olympiads has left bittersweet memories, signaling the end of a two-week festival full of poetry, dance, Turkish culture and music.

Turkish Olympiads and achieving peace

Orhan Oğuz Gürbüz

A utopia ushers in a new era. We explore and take courageous actions thanks to our dreams of what is possible.

“Sharing Coexistence Experiences” panel took place in Italy

The panel entitled “Sharing Coexistence Experiences: Italy-Turkey Case” organized by Journalists and Writers Foundation’s Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADIP) took place at Santa Cecilia Monastery in Rome. Participated by Jewish, Christian and Muslim opinion leaders from Turkey and members of “Religions for Peace” Italy committee members, the panel aroused great interest.

Tanzanian students place first in Turkish Olympiad folk dance final

A group of Tanzanian students won the final round in the 11th International Turkish Olympiad folk dance competition held at the İstanbul Sinan Erdem Sports Complex on Thursday night.

“Gulen Movement not being tracked in Germany”

The Minister of Integration for the State of Baden-Württemberg, Bilkay Öney, answered questions regarding the Gulen Movement and the schools founded by Turkish entrepreneurs at a meeting of the State Parliament Integration Council. She stated that the Gulen Movement was not being tracked by either the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution or any other organization in either Germany or any of its states.

Turkish Olympiad students sing Kurdish, Turkish songs in Diyarbakır

Students visiting Turkey from 140 countries for the 11th International Turkish Olympiad, a festival that celebrates the Turkish language and has brought together 2,000 students to Turkey this year, fascinated locals in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır by singing songs in both the Kurdish and Turkish languages on Wednesday night.

An Eye-Opening Trek Into Turkish Society

Walter Ratliff*

In Gaziantep, Turkey, the children at a local orphanage were recently asked to write about what they wished for most in life. The exercise was designed to help them think about their goals for the future. However, one child took the answer in a different direction: “I wish my parents could come back for just two hours, so I could show them around and have them meet my friends.”

Turkish Olympiad most effective promotion for Turkey, says FM

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has praised the 11th International Turkish Olympiad, a festival that celebrates the Turkish language, as the “most effective” instrument for promoting Turkey, while receiving students visiting Turkey as part of the Olympiad.

Schools Founded by Volunteers to Light the Way for the German Educational System

German journalist and author, Dr. Jochen Thies, stated that it saddens him to see that the public is not aware of the self-sacrifice, perseverance and quality that he has observed in the schools in Germany that have been founded by Hizmet volunteers. Noting that in five years these schools will be serving as guiding beacons for the German educational system, Dr. Thies said, “Public schools will be coming to your door, asking you how you have accomplished all this.”

Message of peaceful coexistence given by Olympiad students in Mardin

Students visiting Turkey from 140 countries around the world for the 11th International Turkish Olympiad, a festival that celebrates the Turkish language and has brought together 2,000 students to Turkey this year, on Monday night gave a message of peaceful coexistence in Mardin, a city where religions, languages and people of different creeds blend together.