Turkish Cultural Center co-hosts Iftar with Westchester Reform Temple
Date posted: July 28, 2013
Interfaith Gathering Breaks the Fast of Ramadan at Westchester Reform Temple, which was co-hosted by the Turkish Cultural Center. Mehmet Ozhabes, president of the Turkish Cultural Council welcomed everyone saying it is tradition to raise the tent and open the flap wide to receive guests. “The tent,” Ozhabes said, “is a place of peace and friendship.” Religious leaders from White Plains and Mayor Tom Roach were present. Roach spoke briefly about the importance of celebrating the diversity in communities.
During my stay in Turkey, I met with many business leaders and academics that provide funding for schools and universities based on this philosophy. As one businessman told me, “Educated people can understand each other.”
NPR’s Interview with Gulen – He Denies Involvement In Coup Attempt
From his exile compound in the Poconos, the cleric accused by the Turkish government of leading a failed coup attempt last year, Fethullah Gulen, denies any involvement.
Fethullah Gulen on Israel and Jews
In an interview with the Atlantic magazine in August 2013, Gulen stated that “I had a chance to get to know practitioners of non-Muslim faiths better, and I felt a need to revise my expressions from earlier periods. “I realized and then stated that the critiques and condemnations that are found in the Quran or prophetic tradition are not targeted against people who belong to a religious group,” but “can be found in any person.”
The Anatolians are coming
This inclusion of the Armenian and Jewish cultures in the “Anatolian” concept is worth pondering, for it tells something about the cultural codes of some of the makers of “New Turkey” and how they differ from the codes of “old” (i.e., Kemalist) Turkey.
Pro-gov’t daily repeats Bharara controlled by Gülen movement, calls him ‘stupid’
One of the staunchly pro-government newspapers in Turkey, the Star, daily has repeated earlier claims about a US attorney, saying that he is controlled by the faith-based Gülen movement and “stupid.”
[Erdogan’s] Turken Foundation: A Wolf in the Neighborhood [in the US]
Members of the Saudi royal family are known financiers of madrassas, informal education centers around the world that propagate Wahhabiism, an extremist interpretation of Islam. Will the [pro-Erdogan] New York dormitory function as a madrassa?
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