The Queens Turkish Cultural Center, organized the 10th annual Ramadan Tent to serve free food at the time of iftar
Olsan Turan, Turkish Cultural Center, Queens: “Just we would like to share our traditions. Each day we’re expecting more than 1,000 people.”
A cleric from the local community gave a heartfelt message to the invitees.
The hosts opened the event to followers of all faiths, including Jews, Hindus and Christians.
Sufi music, authentic Turkish food and good company. The guests couldn’t ask for more.
Olsan Turan, Turkish Cultural Center, Queens: “And it just opened my heart, just completely. I can’t be thankful enough. It was wonderful.”
Over the past decade, the center has committed its resources to strengthening ties in the community. Residents in Queens told me they’re pleased to come to an event where they enjoyed a delicious dinner and made new friends.
Love is A Verb – forthcoming documentary on the Gülen Movement
Love Is A Verb is an examination of a social movement of Sufi-inspired Sunni Muslims that began in Turkey in the l960s and now spans across the globe. The group is called Hizmet, the Turkish word for “service” or The Gülen Movement after its inspiration and teacher, Fethullah Gülen, a man TIME magazine named as one of the most influential leaders in the world in 2013 for “…preaching a message of tolerance.”
Gülen says many would like to be in detained journalists’ shoes
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said he believes many people, including he himself, would like to be in the shoes of Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and Samanyolu Broadcasting Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca, who were detained in a police operation on Sunday, implying that it is an honor for the journalists to be in custody under Turkey’s current circumstances.
[Part 5] Gülen says ballot box is not everything in a democracy
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social movement called Hizmet, said the ballot box is not everything, urging his followers to not stick to only one but to cast their votes freely based on their personal conviction. He added that focusing on the ballot box only makes some people comfortable in telling lies.
Kenneth Hunter on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement
Kenneth Hunter is the Principal of the Prosser Career Academy High School. He studied theology at Chicago Loyola University and taught world religions in high schools. He served as the chairperson of Illinois State Board of Education Language Arts Assessment Advisory Council (2002-2012). He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago.
Don’t draw us into your family fight: Washington
The United States has told Ankara it has no any intention of getting involved into what it calls “a family fight,” denying conspiracy theories suggesting Washington’s role in the ongoing struggle between the government and the powerful Gülen community that has exploded with a new corruption probe. “Please don’t draw us into your family fight here. We don’t want one side or the other to feed this conspiracy idea that we are against the prime minister or against Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi,”
Reflections on my first trip to TÜRKIYE
Last week I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of Jewish community leaders on a Niagara Foundation sponsored trip to Türkiye (Turkey). Our mission: to provide the group with windows into the Jewish experience in Turkey. One of the trip participants would describe this as, “not a Jewish trip to Turkey but a group of Jewish people traveling to Turkey.”
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Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney
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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
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Overwhelming public response in support of Bank Asya
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Doctors In Turkey discouraged from writing up reports on abuse, torture
