Conference highlights Turkish schools’ contribution to world peace


Date posted: September 27, 2012

ESRA KOŞAR, NEW YORK

Education ministers and academics from various countries highlighted the contributions to world peace made by Turkish schools inspired by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen during a conference held in New York on Monday.

The gathering, featuring attendees from across the world, was titled “The Peacebuilding Through Education International Conference” and was co-hosted by the Fountain Magazine and the New Jersey-based Peace Islands Institute (PII) at the Times Center in New York.

The conference began with a message from Fethullah Gülen, the honorary chairman of the PII, and a diverse group of international speakers and panels discussed topics including peace building through education, mobilizing civil society for peace building, principles and methodologies in peace education and peace as a shared ideal.

Delivering a speech at the conference, Tanzanian Education Minister Shukuru Jumanne Kawambwa praised contribution of Turkish schools in Tanzania — known as Feza Schools — to the country’s education. “Feza Schools are among the most successful schools in Tanzania. You see that multiculturalism, tolerance and mutual respect rule in these schools.  Students are being positively affected in this atmosphere,” he said.

Dr. Johnston McMaster, the director of the Belfast-based Education for Reconciliation program, underlined the significance of teaching democracy to students in sustaining world peace. During his speech, McMaster said Gülen is among world figures who have contributed to the improvement of democracy in the world along with Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

Among the other participants of the conference were Filipino Minister of Education Armin Altamirano Luistro; New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks; President of the Alliance for Shared Values Dr. Y. Alp Aslandoğan; Hilary Cremin, a senior lecturer at the School of Education, University of Cambridge; and David Perlmutter, the director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa.

A photography competition titled “Peace in a Frame,” which included entries from around the world, had also been launched by the Fountain Magazine in connection with the conference.  The winning photos/photographers were selected on Sept. 15 and were displayed at the Times Center.

Source: Today's Zaman , September 26, 2012

Tags: | | | | | |


Related News

Report: Turkey Mulling Attack On Fethullah Gulen

Turkish security services have reportedly been planning an attack on U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric suspected of masterminding the July 15 coup plot, a number of sources confirmed. The source said a Turkish intelligence unit in the U.S. had been monitoring the Gulen’s compound for several weeks and that the security was easy to breach.

Turkey’s ‘Nazi-style’ purge of academia condemned

The mass sacking of more than 1,200 academics in Turkey has been compared to tactics used in Nazi Germany. Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, made his comments shortly after Turkish authorities released a list of 1,273 academics fired from public universities on 29 October.

Afghan minister says proud his children studied at Turkish schools

The Turkish schools were established by educational volunteers of the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement and inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Turkey should compensate abused Nigerian students

The recent unjustified arrest, detention, traumatization and subsequent release of 50 Nigerian students in Turkey by that country’s government must rank as a most unfortunate low in the Nigerian – Turkish relations. Seen in context, it constitutes an instance of unjustified victimization of innocent foreigners, out of misplaced grudge by a government that had no cause for such act of indiscretion.

Nigeria demands Turkey’s apology over ‘unjustifiable’ students deportation in coup crackdown

Nigerian lawmakers have urged the Turkish government to apologise for arresting and deporting dozens of Nigerian students. The majority of the youths attended the Fatih University, which is among thousands of educational buildings Turkey has shut down in a crackdown following the failed coup.

Kimse Yok Mu opens school in Afghanistan

The former vice-president of Afghanistan Prof. Nematullah Shahrani, in his address, said, “Afghan-Turk schools have been serving our country for long years and listed among best schools ever since. Students at these schools are receiving a quality education and representing Afghanistan at international contests in the best way possible.”

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

“The Fountain Magazine” 2015 Essay Contest

Hizmet Movement NGOs from 80 nations share intercultural experiences at GYV meeting

3 dead, 5 missing in attempt to escape Turkey’s post-coup crackdown

‘Washington has no interest in using Gülen against AKP,’ former US envoy says

TÜBİTAK changes olympiad scoring system, penalizes private schools

An Indian professor’s reflections on Erdogan’s visit to India, crackdown on Gulen movement

Kosovo PM to Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘We Mind Our Own Affairs’

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News