News
Dusseldorf drawn to the call “Come, whoever you are”
Calling out “Come, whoever you are”, Turkish Festival by Rumi Forum am Rhein drew tens of thousands of people from Turkish, German and many more nations on April 19-21. The board president of Rumi Forum Fatih Yilmaz expressed their pleasure with the large interest towards the festival marking its 2nd anniversary, revealing that they intend to establish it as an annual tradition.
Exit from a well 1,915 meters deep
MARKAR ESAYAN As Turkey is putting an end to its denial policy or at least going through a significant change in this regard, it is impossible to stick to the red lines of the old ideological mentality concerning the 1915 forced relocation of Armenians. The democratic progress made and reforms implemented during the last 10 […]
Impartiality of the state, tragic events of 1915
MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK Turkey commemorated the 98th anniversary of the tragic events of 1915 — the killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I — on Wednesday. April 24 is the date chosen to recognize the events of 1915 when close to 200 Armenian religious and intellectual leaders were rounded up in İstanbul and later […]
Message to the conservative intellect on the Armenian issue
Even the thought of an Ottoman massacre, lead them to a knee jerk reaction, as it contradicts with everything the conservative intellect is built upon. Although they believe that they’re defending their identity and history, just on contrary they’re defending a minority, which fought with this history and identity. So the conservative intellect better think about the fundamentals of the issue.
‘Even deeper than 9/11’
In my humble opinion, following the tragic events in Boston, there are two questions before us that we must contemplate deeply on. First, despite all the efforts of the Obama administration to ease the tension in the air, why is the US still being subject to terrorist actions that Muslims seem to have taken a […]
‘Gulen Movement is a civil society movement, rather than a religious one’
University of Utah professor of political science Hakan Yavuz, Ph.D, gave a lecture followed by a conversation on his latest book “Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gulen Movement“. At the lecture hosted by Rumi Forum Washington D.C., Yavuz argued that the Gulen Movement should not be considered a religious movement, rather, a civil society movement. He […]
An Armenian lady, Hrant and April 24
There is a story that Hrant Dink used to tell on many different occasions that I would like to share with you. Let us listen to the story from Hrant: “An old Turkish man called me from a village in the region of Sivas and said: ‘Son, we searched everywhere until we found you. There […]
1915 tragedy to be commemorated with foreign delegation for first time
YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, İSTANBUL On April 24 of this year, Turkish people commemorating the 98th anniversary of the tragic events of 1915 will be joined for the first time by a foreign delegation composed of 20 anti-racist and Armenian representatives from 15 countries. “The delegation consists of two main groups; one group is represented by […]
A headscarved woman at the April 24 commemoration
The Armenian issue has been a periodically recurring problem for all governments of the Turkish Republic so far. It has become a habit for us to react and voice national concerns via our Foreign Ministry when parliaments of foreign countries pass bills on recognition of the genocide, or as April 24 looms. Meanwhile, we have […]
The Armenian issue of 1915, Turkish politics and Israel
I am in Salzburg, Austria, for a week as an Erasmus visiting professor. I am mainly contributing to the ongoing seminar classes of other professors who have asked me to talk about Turkey, Islam, democracy, human rights, Turkey’s EU membership process and the Hizmet movement. The students of the University of Salzburg are highly interested […]
Lebanese-Swedish singer Zain says proud to sing Gülen’s poem
Lebanese-Swedish singer Maher Zain, who recently sang a poem written by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen for an album titled “Colors of Peace-Rise Up,” has said that he is very proud of singing a poem by Gulen. Artists from 12 countries composed music for poems written by Turkish Islamic scholar Gulen, who is known for […]
Turkish and Kurdish women meet to discuss media and peace in Sulaimaniya, Iraq
TUĞBA MEZARARKALI, SULAIMANIYA/IRAQ Kurdish and Turkish women met in the Iraqi town of Sulaimaniya on Sunday to discuss various issues including the role of the media in relation to women and coexistence and freedoms in the Middle East. Fifty female journalists from Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan joined the event, organized by the Medialog Platform of […]
Islamic scholars to discuss ‘Ijma’ at Istanbul symposium
OSMAN ÜNALAN, MUSTAFA KUŞEN, ORHAN YILDIRIM, ÖMER ÖZDEMİR, İSTANBUL Scholars from 80 countries will convene in İstanbul over the weekend for a two-day symposium during which they will exchange views about ijma, an Islamic term meaning religious consensus, and stress the unity of Muslims. The event, which is jointly organized by the Yeni Ümit and […]
Nine decades later, Hizmet gives back to Karachi
When Aynur Pazarci watched Benazir Bhutto on television, she would think of her as an elder sister. After spending her whole life in Turkey, Pazarrci felt connected to Pakistan long before she moved here seven years ago. Now, she serves as the vice principal of the Pak Turk International School’s guidance department. Tucked away in […]
