Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
EastWest Institute honors Gülen with 2011 EWI Peace Building Award
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| Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) President Mustafa Yeşil received the prestigious award on behalf of Gülen. | |
| The EastWest Institute (EWI) honored well-respected Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen with its 2011 EWI Peace Building Award at an awards dinner held in New York on Tuesday for his contribution to world peace. | |
| Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) President Mustafa Yeşil received the prestigious award on behalf of Gülen. In a message he sent to the ceremony, Gülen said he accepted the award not on behalf of himself but on behalf of numerous volunteers, among whom he sees himself. Gülen is a Turkish Islamic scholar well known for his teachings promoting mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures. One of the world's most influential Islamic scholars, Gülen came out at the top of the list of “The World's Top 20 Public Intellectuals” by the magazines Foreign Policy and Prospect in 2008. Now residing in the US, Gülen has pioneered educational activities in a number of countries along with efforts to promote intercultural and interfaith activities around the world. He has written nearly 50 books in Turkish, some of them translated into several languages. John Edwin Mroz, the president and chief executive officer of the EWI, also delivered a speech during the ceremony and said it is an honor for the institution to present the award to Gülen. | |
Gülen: Society not divided into Kemalists, Muslims in Turkey
Deutsch-Türkische Nachrichten. , June 17, 2011
There is no division in Turkish society between Kemalists and Muslims, and all citizens of Turkey know very well how to coexist with others coming from different religions, races and languages thanks to their roots in an old empire, the Ottoman Empire, according to internationally renowned Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Gülen’s remarks came in an interview he gave to the Deutsch-Türkische Nachrichten (DTN) news portal. Asked whether the divide between Kemalists and Muslims in Turkey will remain forever, the scholar said the question implies that Kemalists and Muslims are two opposite elements or notions. “We can neither talk about two dissociated groups such as Kemalists or Muslims in Turkey, nor we can talk about a ‘divide’ that is impossible to fill. We are heirs of an ‘empire’ society, which possesses characteristics of a mosaic. We have enjoyed the mosaic of different nations, religions, races and languages for centuries. Turkish society is heir to this mosaic and knows very well how to coexist with other people in peace even though they come from other religions, races or ethnicities,” Gülen stated.
Gülen’s remarks came in an interview he gave to the Deutsch-Türkische Nachrichten (DTN) news portal. Asked whether the divide between Kemalists and Muslims in Turkey will remain forever, the scholar said the question implies that Kemalists and Muslims are two opposite elements or notions. “We can neither talk about two dissociated groups such as Kemalists or Muslims in Turkey, nor we can talk about a ‘divide’ that is impossible to fill. We are heirs of an ‘empire’ society, which possesses characteristics of a mosaic. We have enjoyed the mosaic of different nations, religions, races and languages for centuries. Turkish society is heir to this mosaic and knows very well how to coexist with other people in peace even though they come from other religions, races or ethnicities,” Gülen stated.
‘If whoever touched Gülen was doomed, we would have been ashes by now’
Today's Zaman. Fatih Vural, August 5, 2011
| “A number of things have been published against me; dozens of books have been written. However, I have never done anything to keep an unprinted book from publication. | |
| I only pursued my rights as a citizen by legal means in the face of baseless accusations, slander, and assaults against my individual rights. Even books which were identified as illegal by court decisions and whose authors were sentenced to pay compensation have been reprinted. |
Obama meets Turkish school’s award-winning students
This article is related to Gulen Schools | Gulen Charter Schools | Gulen Inspired Schools.Four students from the Pinnacle Academy, established by Turkish entrepreneurs in the greater Washington, D.C., area, were at the White House on Monday to present their project, which took first place in the National Engineers Week Future City Competition in the capital’s metropolitan area in February.On Monday President Barack Obama hosted the White House Science Fair to honor the winners of a series of competitions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Ethiopian schools put Turkey on curriculum
This article is related to Gulen Schools | Gulen Charter Schools | Gulen Inspired Schools.MARY FITZGERALD In Addis Ababa
"MERHABA! MERHABA!" – the Turkish greeting echoes through the school corridor as neatly uniformed Ethiopian children welcome a visitor.That morning the children sang the Turkish national anthem along with their own. On the school walls, vocabulary charts to help pupils improve their command of Turkish hang alongside framed verses of Rumi's poetry. In the principal's office a portrait of Ataturk dominates.
This is one of four "Ethio-Turkish" schools in the Ethiopian capital, catering for more than 400 children from kindergarten to high school.
Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned
This article is related to Gulen Schools | Gulen Charter Schools | Gulen Inspired Schools.
Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Fethullah Gulen responded to questions from USA TODAY's Greg Toppo that were submitted through an intermediary.
Fethullah Gulen responded to questions from USA TODAY's Greg Toppo that were submitted through an intermediary.
Q: Would he reflect on his connection to the U.S. public charter schools inspired by the Gulen movement?
A: First of all, I do not approve the title "Gulen Movement" given to the civil society movement that I call "volunteers' movement." I see myself one of its participants.
There might be some educators who have listened to or read my thoughts on humanity, peace, mutual respect, the culture of coexistence, and keeping the human values alive, and have come to the United States for various reasons and work at private or public schools. In fact, I have heard from the media that there are such educatorsI have no idea about the number of such educators in the United States. My relation to them is not different from the one between me and any academician working at a U.S. university who may somehow value my thoughts. Those are individuals whom I do not know personally, though they may be familiar with and may think that they benefit from my books and speeches.
Q: Does he take pride in the schools, which are quickly multiplying and are generally high-performing?
A: I do not have specific knowledge about the schools which are referred to in the question, nor about their academic successes. If they are successful in contributing to human well-being, love, social peace and harmony, I would applaud that. Indeed, I wish any activities contributing to the shared human values to be successful, whether they are in the field of education or any other fields of human endeavor. I do not differentiate between ethnic or religious backgrounds in this concern. This is a consequence of my being human.
Q: How does he feel about the school leaders' recent assertions in the U.S. press that the schools have "no organic connection" to Mr. Gulen or the movement?
A: I do not regularly follow the U.S. press. It is well-known that I have no relation with any institution in the form of ownership, board membership, or any similar kind. For many decades, I have expressed my ideas and opinions about social issues facing humanity. Many people have listened to my speeches and read my works. I do not approve that those who are familiar with and share these ideas and opinions to any extent, or the institutions they work at, should be viewed as connected with my person.
Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam
Carolyn Drake for The New York Times
Students in Istanbul under a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s founder. Pakistan has a new network of Turkish schools. More Photos >
Multimedia
World View Podcast: Sabrina Tavernise on education in Pakistan.
Carolyn Drake for The New York Times
Mesut Kacmaz, principal of a PakTurk school in a poor neighborhood of Karachi, and his wife, Meral, in their home. More Photos »
“Kill, fight, shoot,” Mr. Kacmaz said. “This is a misinterpretation of Islam.”
But that view is common in Pakistan, a frontier land for the future of Islam, where schools, nourished by Saudi and American money dating back to the 1980s, have spread Islamic radicalism through the poorest parts of society. With a literacy rate of just 50 percent and a public school system near collapse, the country is particularly vulnerable.
Mr. Kacmaz (pronounced KATCH-maz) is part of a group of Turkish educators who have come to this battleground with an entirely different vision of Islam. Theirs is moderate and flexible, comfortably coexisting with the West while remaining distinct from it. Like Muslim Peace Corpsvolunteers, they promote this approach in schools, which are now established in more than 80 countries, Muslim and Christian.
Their efforts are important in Pakistan, a nuclear power whose stability and whose vulnerability to fundamentalism have become main preoccupations of American foreign policy. Its tribal areas have become a refuge to theTaliban and Al Qaeda, and the battle against fundamentalism rests squarely on young people and the education they get.
The Gülen Movement
LUCKY SEVERSON, correspondent: His name is Fethullah Gülen. He is a 69-year-old Turkish Islamic scholar and author, apparently in poor health, who came to the US seeking medical treatment. He lives a secluded life at a retreat in Pennsylvania. So why was he voted by his admirers in a survey by Foreign Policy magazine as the most significant intellectual in the world? Among those admirers are Kemal Oksuz and Alp Aslandogan.
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