
Latest stopover in promotion event series of Islam without Extremes by journalist-author Mustafa Akyol was Salt Lake City. The event by Pacifica Institute Utah Branch at Marriott City Center saw the attendance of highly prominent guests including President Pro Tempore at Idaho State Senate, Brent Hill; Utah Senators, Gene Devis, Jim Dabakis; Representatives Lynn Hemingway […]

In Sri Lanka, the Hizmet Movement started the Learnium School as well as the Intercultural Dialogue Foundation. Initially, the funding for the school came from the Movement until it managed to support itself on its own income. Kimse Yok Mu was among the first to respond to the devastating tsunami that hit Sri Lanka. Large amounts of food and other requirements that the tsunami victims needed were supplied without any fanfare.

Turkish Cultural Center Maine honors Governor LePage at its first friendship dinner. Speakers point to business and education ties and potential [between Turkey and State of Maine] as the governor and two others receive awards. Several state legislators who attended the dinner have gone on one of the three trips the Turkish Cultural Center has organized for lawmakers to visit Turkey. There also are educational ties between Maine and Turkey.

The Journalists and Writers Foundation is organizing a two-day international summit entitled “Women’s Perspectives on UN Post-2015 Development Agenda” in Istanbul, which will be held by on May 31-June 1, 2014. As the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches this summit specifically aims to highlight women’s perspectives, experiences and opinions on the UN development goals.

Turkish humanitarian aid association Kimse Yok Mu has announced that it will donate $1 million to the victims of the typhoon-hit Philippines from its emergency funds. The death toll in the Philippines is believed to have exceeded 10,000. The typhoon, with winds raging at 275 kilometers an hour, has left behind scenes one would expect to see in the apocalypse, according to Kimse Yok Mu volunteers.

The Turkish schools around the globe have been making great effort for Izmir’s EXPO 2020 win. The schools and businessmen have taken action so that Bureau of International Expositions committee opts for Turkey in the voting to take place in Paris on November 27th. “What is lost with Olympics can be made up for in EXPO,” Fethullah Gulen had earlier said.

Hizmet says it is both practically and theoretically impossible to form a political party or to support a specific party, as it has volunteers from many different political ideologies. “This movement, which has no other goals than to serve humanity, would only advise its volunteers to form their political stances according to certain principles, like human rights, democracy, transparency, justice, pluralism, rule of law and freedom of expression and belief,” the statement said.

Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) was the first such organization from Turkey to send aid to the Philippines, which is struggling to recover after being hit on Friday by Typhoon Haiyan. Reaching the area with military helicopters, a team of 10 people began search and rescue activities and 25 tons of food packages were distributed to 6,500 victims in cooperation with Philippine officials.

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen donated to the Kimse Yok Mu foundation $10,000 for the victims of the Typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines. “According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [UNOCHA], 4.3 million people have been affected by the typhoon and 330,000 people are now homeless. Ninety percent of the houses in Tacloban city have been damaged,” AFAD stated recently.

SEVGİ AKARÇEŞME, İSTANBUL The democratization package unveiled by the governing AK Party (Justice and Development Party) on Sept. 30 further disappointed already discouraged Alevis who have been expecting the state to officially recognize their houses of worship in accordance with other steps taken to equate all faiths in the country and this frustration led a […]

The international panel entitled “The Virgin Mary in the Holy Bible and the Holy Qur’an” jointly organized by Journalists and Writers Foundation’s Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADIP), Roma Tevere Instituto and Izmir Intercultural Dialogue Center took place in Istanbul. In the final declaration of the panel, it was noted that the Virgin Mary who broke many discriminative taboos of her time played a significant role throughout history in placing women in the status they deserve.

The Peace Islands Institute (PII) held a discussion panel on October 28, titled “A Year After Hurricane Sandy: Climate Change and Disaster Management” in order to raise awareness on climate change and disaster management, to highlight disaster management planning, to explore effective ways to respond to natural disasters during and after emergency and to handle the emergency situations.

Turkish humanitarian aid organizations have sent rescue teams to the Philippines. “A 10-member rescue team of ours has already reached the Philippines,” Yusuf Yıldırım, who is in charge of foreign aid at Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There?), has told Today’s Zaman. The humanitarian aid organization will also distribute 6,500 food packages to the victims.

Colégio Belo Futuro, the Turkish school, in Brazil’s Sao Paulo has launched a math contest to be annual that received remarkable interest. Being the nation’s first privately-initiated math contest, “BELOMAT” saw the participation of a large number of students and education professionals in its first year. The contest aimes to encourage participation in national and international math events.