Maria - the Untouchable
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Friday, January 04, 2008
No freedom of religion in Turkey...
As Turkey is trying to convince the world in general and the EU in particular, about their religious freedom, below you will find an article about the intolerance the Turkish state imposed on non Suni Muslims and other religions. This is not an act of the AKP party but institutionalized the last 60 years.
While Turkish citizens are crying that there is no place to worship in Europe, Turkish people over there knows better: their Mosques and school are funded with government money. Even cultural centre's are established for a better understanding.
The ignorance or arrogance of some Turkish people is astonishing.
The article below is from here
"In Turkey, the freedom in need of expansion is freedom of religion. While each of the issues that is currently on the agenda is a priority issue, each also touches on a broader question which remains off the agenda: freedom of religion and belief in Turkey itself.
A significant problem facing religious groups in Turkey is the nation’s biased religious registration laws. Registration is required for religious leaders and institutions to serve the spiritual needs of their constituents.
Currently, the Sunni branch of Islam is the only “state-sanctioned” form of religion.
The Alevi Islamic Community is not recognized as a separate religious group and is instead considered to be a de-facto group within Sunni Islam. This lack of distinct recognition severely limits their ability to form their own houses of worship and leaves them suspect to the laws of the state that pertain to Sunnis.
The Shi’a community is not recognized as a separate legal entity either.
The Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish communities are recognized as having “a special legal minority status.” However, this only applies to the individuals within these communities and not to their religious institutions, which severely hinders the ability of these groups to perform a wide range of functions necessary to maintaining and serving the needs of their respective adherents.
All other religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestant and Evangelical groups, have no official legal status within the Republic of Turkey.
Religious education is another significantly contentious religious freedom issue in Turkey.
There are two aspects of religious education that are particularly troublesome: the first is that Turkey requires a majority of its population to take state-mandated religious education classes; the second problem is the current restrictions that religious groups face in properly educating their clergy. Turkey currently requires all Muslims in the country, regardless of their sectarian affiliation, to partake in religious education classes.
Minority religious groups are exempted from these religious classes. The Alevis, and other Turkish Muslim minority groups, claim that these classes teach only the Sunni form of Islam that advances religious beliefs that are in conflict with their own religious teachings. These groups also complain that many of these mandatory classes actually demean and dismiss their beliefs.
Many other minority religious communities in Turkey face serious problems in educating their believers.
In 1971, the Turkish government closed all university-level religious schools, both Muslim and Christian.
There are numerous restrictions in place that hinder the ability of these institutions to reopen their doors, such as a requirement that all students be Turkish citizens, a very serious problem for Greek Orthodox clergy.
The government argues that these restrictions are necessary to prevent radical Islamic groups from opening their own religious schools that could spread a violent and extremist form of Islam.
These restrictions disproportionately burden the nation’s religious minorities.
The Greek Orthodox population has fallen to approximately 3000 people over the past several decades. They do not have a large enough population to maintain the primary Greek Orthodox seminary in Turkey – the Halki Monastery. Halki Monastery was among those university-level religious institutions closed by the government, and it faces numerous restrictions to reopening.
The Turkish Government will currently not allow any foreign students to be educated at Halki. Without foreign students, there are not enough Turkish Greek Orthodox seminarians to maintain an official seminary. In addition, due to legal restrictions mentioned above, this Monastery cannot call upon foreign seminarians to travel to Turkey to train the students of the Monastery.
In approximately a generation, the Greek Orthodox population will no longer have the capacity to train new theological leaders. Furthermore, due to legal restrictions that any religious leader in Turkey must be a citizen and be educated in Turkey, within a few years there will be no one that is eligible to be the new Patriarch of Constantinople. As a result, this religious group will have no way of practicing its faith or continuing its traditions. Without the ability to practice their faith or continue their traditions, the Greek Orthodox community will slowly disappear to the pages of history. The continued closure of Halki threatens the very survival of Turkey’s ancient Greek Orthodox minority and the “primus inter pares” of Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Turkey’s Greek Orthodox community is a victim of a silent genocide as their population, religion, and way of life are eroded over the years by actions taken by the Turkish government.
The Government periodically meddles in the internal functioning of religious communities. The Higher Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the Government in a dispute over the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.
The government refused to recognize the use of the term “ecumenical” in reference to the Patriarch. This means that the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Patriarch as leader of anything more than the country’s small Greek Orthodox community, in contrast with the esteemed position that the Patriarch holds amongst other Orthodox communities worldwide.
As the government only allows Turkish citizens to be members of the Orthodox Church hierarchy, this condition places a great strain on such a small population.
Another cause for concern in Turkey is the recent string of attacks against Christians. In January 2007, a protestant church in Samsun was severely vandalized. In April, three workers at a Bible house in the city of Malatya were viciously murdered. The victims’ throats were slashed, and a fourth person inside the building was attempted to escape by jumping out of a window and was severely wounded. It is imperative that the international community pressure Turkey into prosecuting those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
Every community of faith needs the freedom to practice their religion without worrying about either themselves or their religious institutions being physically harmed."
While Turkish citizens are crying that there is no place to worship in Europe, Turkish people over there knows better: their Mosques and school are funded with government money. Even cultural centre's are established for a better understanding.
The ignorance or arrogance of some Turkish people is astonishing.
The article below is from here
"In Turkey, the freedom in need of expansion is freedom of religion. While each of the issues that is currently on the agenda is a priority issue, each also touches on a broader question which remains off the agenda: freedom of religion and belief in Turkey itself.
A significant problem facing religious groups in Turkey is the nation’s biased religious registration laws. Registration is required for religious leaders and institutions to serve the spiritual needs of their constituents.
Currently, the Sunni branch of Islam is the only “state-sanctioned” form of religion.
The Alevi Islamic Community is not recognized as a separate religious group and is instead considered to be a de-facto group within Sunni Islam. This lack of distinct recognition severely limits their ability to form their own houses of worship and leaves them suspect to the laws of the state that pertain to Sunnis.
The Shi’a community is not recognized as a separate legal entity either.
The Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish communities are recognized as having “a special legal minority status.” However, this only applies to the individuals within these communities and not to their religious institutions, which severely hinders the ability of these groups to perform a wide range of functions necessary to maintaining and serving the needs of their respective adherents.
All other religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestant and Evangelical groups, have no official legal status within the Republic of Turkey.
Religious education is another significantly contentious religious freedom issue in Turkey.
There are two aspects of religious education that are particularly troublesome: the first is that Turkey requires a majority of its population to take state-mandated religious education classes; the second problem is the current restrictions that religious groups face in properly educating their clergy. Turkey currently requires all Muslims in the country, regardless of their sectarian affiliation, to partake in religious education classes.
Minority religious groups are exempted from these religious classes. The Alevis, and other Turkish Muslim minority groups, claim that these classes teach only the Sunni form of Islam that advances religious beliefs that are in conflict with their own religious teachings. These groups also complain that many of these mandatory classes actually demean and dismiss their beliefs.
Many other minority religious communities in Turkey face serious problems in educating their believers.
In 1971, the Turkish government closed all university-level religious schools, both Muslim and Christian.
There are numerous restrictions in place that hinder the ability of these institutions to reopen their doors, such as a requirement that all students be Turkish citizens, a very serious problem for Greek Orthodox clergy.
The government argues that these restrictions are necessary to prevent radical Islamic groups from opening their own religious schools that could spread a violent and extremist form of Islam.
These restrictions disproportionately burden the nation’s religious minorities.
The Greek Orthodox population has fallen to approximately 3000 people over the past several decades. They do not have a large enough population to maintain the primary Greek Orthodox seminary in Turkey – the Halki Monastery. Halki Monastery was among those university-level religious institutions closed by the government, and it faces numerous restrictions to reopening.
The Turkish Government will currently not allow any foreign students to be educated at Halki. Without foreign students, there are not enough Turkish Greek Orthodox seminarians to maintain an official seminary. In addition, due to legal restrictions mentioned above, this Monastery cannot call upon foreign seminarians to travel to Turkey to train the students of the Monastery.
In approximately a generation, the Greek Orthodox population will no longer have the capacity to train new theological leaders. Furthermore, due to legal restrictions that any religious leader in Turkey must be a citizen and be educated in Turkey, within a few years there will be no one that is eligible to be the new Patriarch of Constantinople. As a result, this religious group will have no way of practicing its faith or continuing its traditions. Without the ability to practice their faith or continue their traditions, the Greek Orthodox community will slowly disappear to the pages of history. The continued closure of Halki threatens the very survival of Turkey’s ancient Greek Orthodox minority and the “primus inter pares” of Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Turkey’s Greek Orthodox community is a victim of a silent genocide as their population, religion, and way of life are eroded over the years by actions taken by the Turkish government.
The Government periodically meddles in the internal functioning of religious communities. The Higher Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the Government in a dispute over the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.
The government refused to recognize the use of the term “ecumenical” in reference to the Patriarch. This means that the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Patriarch as leader of anything more than the country’s small Greek Orthodox community, in contrast with the esteemed position that the Patriarch holds amongst other Orthodox communities worldwide.
As the government only allows Turkish citizens to be members of the Orthodox Church hierarchy, this condition places a great strain on such a small population.
Another cause for concern in Turkey is the recent string of attacks against Christians. In January 2007, a protestant church in Samsun was severely vandalized. In April, three workers at a Bible house in the city of Malatya were viciously murdered. The victims’ throats were slashed, and a fourth person inside the building was attempted to escape by jumping out of a window and was severely wounded. It is imperative that the international community pressure Turkey into prosecuting those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
Every community of faith needs the freedom to practice their religion without worrying about either themselves or their religious institutions being physically harmed."
Friday, December 28, 2007
Differences in Christmas and New Year's Eve
The Ten Differences Of Christmas (Between the North and the South of this Earth)
I was in in New York, some years ago, walking up a snowbound Fifth Avenue and watching the holiday season in the USA in full bloom - the neck-twistingly tall tree in Rockefeller Center adorned with enough lights to replace the stars; the Toys R Us in Times Square so huge that it contains a three-story tall Ferris wheel inside; presents at Bloomingdale's and Saks that can fit in your pocket and still cost more than the price of all four cars that I have owned in my life - combined. It was all truly a grand sight.
Now I am in Turkey where the holiday season is a good deal more humble. I thought that you might enjoy this little summary of how the holidays are different here and other parts of the world, for example Turkey - The ten differences of Christmas and New year's Eve here and there.
These are:
1. The Heat
If Santa is smart, then the moment he finishes up his gift deliveries in the north he pauses for a change of wardrobe (perhaps some nice red shorts and a matching tank top and a wooden coat), because here in our part of the world it is high winter and Christmas can be brutal cold. As a transplant from the north (even the Netherlands, which is still not Antarctica this time of year) it is one weird experience to bring home a Christmas tree in weather that seems more like July than December, I am talking about Rio now. Its all about perception..
2. Baby Jesus is Way Bigger Than Santa
In the north, there are so many images of Santa, and actual Santas about, that as parents we start telling our kids that his elves disguise themselves as Santa because there are just too many shopping malls for him to be in at one time. But for example in Turkey, Santa's face is visible here and there and I have even spotted a live one or two, but Christmas in Chritmas is really about New Year' Eve. Nativity scenes have sprouted everywhere, in nearly every home you enter, on street corners and store windows.
3. Angels That Glow in the Dark
Some ancient readers may recall a Christmas article that I wrote years ago, about the surreptitious arrival of a nativity scene into my home. This led to a family battle over my suggestion that we should at least paint Baby Jesus so that he glowed in the dark (I lost). Turns out that when I was in Italy, last year, they sell lots of small angel figures that actually DO glow in the dark. We have one watching iridescently over a non-glowing Baby Jesus in the manger.
4. New Years Eve Over Christmas?
The big event here in Istanbul is Old Year's Eve (are you getting confused already), not Christmas day. Extended families (which, with cousins, ants and uncles can almost be large enough for statehood here) gather together at midnight on the 31th for a large, traditional dinner. Mainly in hotels. How boring! Hotels are there to sleep, or otherwise: a scenery for pimps and hookers. I don't tell you more...
5. Fireworks A Midnight
One of the spectacular things here about New Year is that at exactly midnight Istanbul area explodes into a popping blare of home-launched fireworks. Thousands of families simultaneously set off every imaginable kind of pyrotechnic -giant 4th of July style explosions of sparks, roman candles, and miniature sticks of dynamite known affectionately here as "Mata Suegras", Spanish for 'Kill Your Mother In-Law', please don't take this to seriously, it are only lost feelings...
As the sparkles and flashes light up the midnight sky, it is truly clear that something special is happening and that all the people of Istanbul are marking it together.
6. The Thirtheenth Paycheck
It is a matter of Dutch labor law that, just before Christmas, formal employees receive a thirteenth monthly paycheck called an "Aginaldo" in Spanish. Families depend on this to buy whatever gifts they will for their families and whatever food they will put on their Christmas Eve or New Year's eve table. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Dutch expiats actually have this kind of formal employment.
7. The Christmas Basket
The other traditional Christmas offering, from employers to their employees (this one not required by law but expected by custom) is the Christmas basket. This is composed of a straw basket filled with bags of flour, rice and sugar, a bottle of cooking oil, one chicken and a bottle of cheap alcoholic cider. We give one every year to Kubalya, the man who cuts our lawn, but since he doesn't drink we substitute Coke.
8. Real Sheep In Christmas Pagents
One of the things that my wife and I do here, as volunteers, is help run an 80-child orphanage. We've been involved there since 2003. Every year the children of the orphanage put on a Christmas pageant and tell the story of Jesus and Mary looking for room at the inn. The first year we did this we thought it would be cool to use a live baby lamb in the manger. Everything went very well until midway through, when one of the little boys lifted up the lamb's tail and little black pellets started to fire out. The little girl who would become our adopted daughter a few weeks later screamed with glee, "It is making poop!" and the Christmas pageant ended in toddler pandemonium even before Joseph and Mary got turned down for a room.
9. Buring Lama Fetuses
Last Friday, December 21st, was the solstice, the longest day of the year in the south and longest night in the north. And we were in Dubai. But at Christmas time, when material wealth and poverty splits these two worlds so clearly in two, that the two halves of the earth should also have their most exaggerated differences with respect to the sun. On these occasions our friend Mert, an indigenous medicine man (Sjaman) hosts elaborate rituals, which mark them in the traditional Sjaman manner. With not my favorite smell.
10. A Five Dollar Bill is a Fortune
It is a truism. What there seems like pocket change is here a treasure, but at no time it this clearer than at the holidays. The humble toys that in the north would be mere stocking stuffers or an afterthought, here would be a toy so grand that many children could not imagine it. The five-dollar bill that many in the north will spend on parking or for a Starbucks coffee drink, for many here would be a fortune. The streets of some parts of Istanbul are lined with indigenous families from small villages that come to the city at Christmas and Bayram in hopes of some small handout from people whose hearts might soften, if just a bit, this time of year. Five dollars is what many workers here earn for a hard day of labor. Some of the families on the street could easily feed themselves with it for days. I don't profess to be a Christian but, nevertheless, it does seem to me odd that the birth of a man who was poor all his life and who preached affinity for the poor, would have his birthday celebrated with a frenzy of material exchange and acquisition, while so many in the world have nothing. A thank you to everyone who is remembering the less fortunate as well in your holiday plans.
Happy Holidays to All!
I was in in New York, some years ago, walking up a snowbound Fifth Avenue and watching the holiday season in the USA in full bloom - the neck-twistingly tall tree in Rockefeller Center adorned with enough lights to replace the stars; the Toys R Us in Times Square so huge that it contains a three-story tall Ferris wheel inside; presents at Bloomingdale's and Saks that can fit in your pocket and still cost more than the price of all four cars that I have owned in my life - combined. It was all truly a grand sight.
Now I am in Turkey where the holiday season is a good deal more humble. I thought that you might enjoy this little summary of how the holidays are different here and other parts of the world, for example Turkey - The ten differences of Christmas and New year's Eve here and there.
These are:
1. The Heat
If Santa is smart, then the moment he finishes up his gift deliveries in the north he pauses for a change of wardrobe (perhaps some nice red shorts and a matching tank top and a wooden coat), because here in our part of the world it is high winter and Christmas can be brutal cold. As a transplant from the north (even the Netherlands, which is still not Antarctica this time of year) it is one weird experience to bring home a Christmas tree in weather that seems more like July than December, I am talking about Rio now. Its all about perception..
2. Baby Jesus is Way Bigger Than Santa
In the north, there are so many images of Santa, and actual Santas about, that as parents we start telling our kids that his elves disguise themselves as Santa because there are just too many shopping malls for him to be in at one time. But for example in Turkey, Santa's face is visible here and there and I have even spotted a live one or two, but Christmas in Chritmas is really about New Year' Eve. Nativity scenes have sprouted everywhere, in nearly every home you enter, on street corners and store windows.
3. Angels That Glow in the Dark
Some ancient readers may recall a Christmas article that I wrote years ago, about the surreptitious arrival of a nativity scene into my home. This led to a family battle over my suggestion that we should at least paint Baby Jesus so that he glowed in the dark (I lost). Turns out that when I was in Italy, last year, they sell lots of small angel figures that actually DO glow in the dark. We have one watching iridescently over a non-glowing Baby Jesus in the manger.
4. New Years Eve Over Christmas?
The big event here in Istanbul is Old Year's Eve (are you getting confused already), not Christmas day. Extended families (which, with cousins, ants and uncles can almost be large enough for statehood here) gather together at midnight on the 31th for a large, traditional dinner. Mainly in hotels. How boring! Hotels are there to sleep, or otherwise: a scenery for pimps and hookers. I don't tell you more...
5. Fireworks A Midnight
One of the spectacular things here about New Year is that at exactly midnight Istanbul area explodes into a popping blare of home-launched fireworks. Thousands of families simultaneously set off every imaginable kind of pyrotechnic -giant 4th of July style explosions of sparks, roman candles, and miniature sticks of dynamite known affectionately here as "Mata Suegras", Spanish for 'Kill Your Mother In-Law', please don't take this to seriously, it are only lost feelings...
As the sparkles and flashes light up the midnight sky, it is truly clear that something special is happening and that all the people of Istanbul are marking it together.
6. The Thirtheenth Paycheck
It is a matter of Dutch labor law that, just before Christmas, formal employees receive a thirteenth monthly paycheck called an "Aginaldo" in Spanish. Families depend on this to buy whatever gifts they will for their families and whatever food they will put on their Christmas Eve or New Year's eve table. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Dutch expiats actually have this kind of formal employment.
7. The Christmas Basket
The other traditional Christmas offering, from employers to their employees (this one not required by law but expected by custom) is the Christmas basket. This is composed of a straw basket filled with bags of flour, rice and sugar, a bottle of cooking oil, one chicken and a bottle of cheap alcoholic cider. We give one every year to Kubalya, the man who cuts our lawn, but since he doesn't drink we substitute Coke.
8. Real Sheep In Christmas Pagents
One of the things that my wife and I do here, as volunteers, is help run an 80-child orphanage. We've been involved there since 2003. Every year the children of the orphanage put on a Christmas pageant and tell the story of Jesus and Mary looking for room at the inn. The first year we did this we thought it would be cool to use a live baby lamb in the manger. Everything went very well until midway through, when one of the little boys lifted up the lamb's tail and little black pellets started to fire out. The little girl who would become our adopted daughter a few weeks later screamed with glee, "It is making poop!" and the Christmas pageant ended in toddler pandemonium even before Joseph and Mary got turned down for a room.
9. Buring Lama Fetuses
Last Friday, December 21st, was the solstice, the longest day of the year in the south and longest night in the north. And we were in Dubai. But at Christmas time, when material wealth and poverty splits these two worlds so clearly in two, that the two halves of the earth should also have their most exaggerated differences with respect to the sun. On these occasions our friend Mert, an indigenous medicine man (Sjaman) hosts elaborate rituals, which mark them in the traditional Sjaman manner. With not my favorite smell.
10. A Five Dollar Bill is a Fortune
It is a truism. What there seems like pocket change is here a treasure, but at no time it this clearer than at the holidays. The humble toys that in the north would be mere stocking stuffers or an afterthought, here would be a toy so grand that many children could not imagine it. The five-dollar bill that many in the north will spend on parking or for a Starbucks coffee drink, for many here would be a fortune. The streets of some parts of Istanbul are lined with indigenous families from small villages that come to the city at Christmas and Bayram in hopes of some small handout from people whose hearts might soften, if just a bit, this time of year. Five dollars is what many workers here earn for a hard day of labor. Some of the families on the street could easily feed themselves with it for days. I don't profess to be a Christian but, nevertheless, it does seem to me odd that the birth of a man who was poor all his life and who preached affinity for the poor, would have his birthday celebrated with a frenzy of material exchange and acquisition, while so many in the world have nothing. A thank you to everyone who is remembering the less fortunate as well in your holiday plans.
Happy Holidays to All!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Propaganda
We had some lovely days in Dubai, the capital of the UAE.
We left last Wednesday and came back early this morning.
While writing this, Turkish television is broadcasting some propaganda, in the same 'body language' as Goebbels did for the Third Reich: the same style, the same voice, the same features: by Halk Television.
People can inspire a nation, like Mandela, Gandhi, Kennedy, but none of them were subject of blind adoration, with military bombards as Ataturk is seen in Turkey.
What does this means:
a) a nation can not act on its own without a strong leader or
b) a nation doesn't want to learn from its past.
Christmas is not a Christian holiday as Frank White explains. Its the day of light and self reflection. Thousands of Christmas trees will not change anything in the streets of Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara etc.
The propogandists are still out there. We? We can only wait. Wait that one day they can not enslave our thoughts again.
We left last Wednesday and came back early this morning.
While writing this, Turkish television is broadcasting some propaganda, in the same 'body language' as Goebbels did for the Third Reich: the same style, the same voice, the same features: by Halk Television.
People can inspire a nation, like Mandela, Gandhi, Kennedy, but none of them were subject of blind adoration, with military bombards as Ataturk is seen in Turkey.
What does this means:
a) a nation can not act on its own without a strong leader or
b) a nation doesn't want to learn from its past.
Christmas is not a Christian holiday as Frank White explains. Its the day of light and self reflection. Thousands of Christmas trees will not change anything in the streets of Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara etc.
The propogandists are still out there. We? We can only wait. Wait that one day they can not enslave our thoughts again.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Cartoon crisis in the Netherlands?
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Last week the Dutch retailer Dixons distributed its new special Christmas magazine.
But some Christian clubs complained at the Dutch Advertisement Code and Ethics commission.
For them several cartoons about the birth of Jesus are blasphemy.
On one of the cartoons you see the Three Wise men of the East looking for Jesus with a TomTom (GPS system). Another one shows Jesus laying down and listening with his iPod to 'Dreaming of a White Christmas'.
I think they have a slight chance to stop the distribution of these magazines.
It's now waiting on the first threats...))
Monday, December 03, 2007
Turkish-Dutch cooperation: The Hague / Ankara
Logo of the Turkey institute in the Hague, the Netherlands.Last week, Myrthe send me a press release about the opening of the Turkey Institute the Netherlands in The Hague on November 27, 2007. Its an independent institute with one goal: to give the citizens in the Netherlands on a scientifically way, information about Turkey. One of the initiative takers is Prof. Dr. Erik-Jan Zürcher, who is Professor Middle East languages at the oldest university of the Netherlands: the University Leiden. Its also one of the most well know universities of the Holland (still the same country), together with University of Utrecht (where he was Prof. Turkish languages and Culture until 2006, and which Universitty ranks worldwide no. 40) and Erasmus University Rotterdam.
The aim of this institute is providing knowledge about Turkey, through discussion platforms such as student associations, media, publishing companies, education centre's etc.
The TI is sponsored by Dutch multinationals such as Unilever (Dutch/British), KLM (with Air France), Fortis (Dutch/Belgium), Eureko (Dutch, but in Turkey with Garanti sigorta), TNT, ING (Oyak Bank), Aegon, Akzo Nobel etc.
According to Prof. Zurcher, there is still misunderstandings between the citizens of both the Netherlands and Turkey. And since there is a huge demand for knowledge about Turkey, with the help of sponsors and the city council of The Hague, this institute could be established. Its unique in Europe and the USA.
Last year, on the 21th of December 2006 the Dutch Minister for Education opened the Netherlands Institute for Higher education in Ankara. This project is established to help Turkish students with a scholar ships, intern ships in the Netherlands, and establishing relations between Higher Eduction institutes in Turkey and the Netherlands. And to improve relations between the Dutch Institutes in Rabat (NIMAR), Cairo (NVIC), Damascus (NIASD), Ankara en Istanbul (NIT). During a meeting earlier this year in Cairo the decision was made to invite the Managing Directors of the Dutch Institutes in Athens (NIA), Rome (NIR) en Florence (IUOART) for a more intense and direct collaboration.
Staff and employees of Niha in Ankara.
All these projects, programs, institutions are funded by the Dutch, to improve bilateral relations with Turkey. Its a pity that some people only are focused and on how 'undemocratic and racist the Netherlands is'.
As some Turkish friends in the Netherlands are saying all the time: Turkish hospitality is great but their pride is 3 times that big: they will never admit that they need the help of other countries. Even they accuse the Dutch Government for not doing enough for the Turkish people in the Netherlands.
Finally, please find the Niha conference from January the 13th until January the 16th 2008 here. Participants are for example the Rectors of the most important universities such as:
Ali Doğramacı, Rector of Bilkent University, Attila Askar, Rector of Koç University
Ural Akbulut, Rector of Middle East Technical University, together with Aybar Ertepınar, vice-president of the Turkish Higher Education Board YÖK) and Tarık Çelik, vice-president of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA). And many others:
Ural Akbulut, Rector of Middle East Technical University, together with Aybar Ertepınar, vice-president of the Turkish Higher Education Board YÖK) and Tarık Çelik, vice-president of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA). And many others:
The program: here.
One important point here: vocational training in the Western world means something different than vocational training and education in Turkey, which is mainly based upon religion.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
And this is not fun anymore...
The British teacher, Gillian Gibbons, has been found guilty in Sudan of insulting religion after she allowed her primary school class to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
Gillian, 54, from Liverpool, has been sentenced to 15 days in prison and will then be deported.
She had been accused on three counts of insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. And what the Western world is still reacting peacefully while for example the OIC didn't make a statement, yet.
Instead of condemning these kind of ridiculous sentences it has to do something about inciting real hate, hate preaches, planned suicide attacks, and undermining the civil societies by imams in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina etc. And the state ideology of Turkey don't left any space for manoeuvre either. The Secr. General of the OIC is a Turk and it can do more than it did...until now.
Calling a teddy beer 'Muhammad'...you are kidding; the Sudanese government doesn't have anything else to do? Darfur? It is a sad sad time for dialogue.
And what shall we do with all the men who are named 'Muhammad'? All 250 lashes?
Gillian, 54, from Liverpool, has been sentenced to 15 days in prison and will then be deported.
She had been accused on three counts of insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. And what the Western world is still reacting peacefully while for example the OIC didn't make a statement, yet.
Instead of condemning these kind of ridiculous sentences it has to do something about inciting real hate, hate preaches, planned suicide attacks, and undermining the civil societies by imams in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina etc. And the state ideology of Turkey don't left any space for manoeuvre either. The Secr. General of the OIC is a Turk and it can do more than it did...until now.
Calling a teddy beer 'Muhammad'...you are kidding; the Sudanese government doesn't have anything else to do? Darfur? It is a sad sad time for dialogue.
And what shall we do with all the men who are named 'Muhammad'? All 250 lashes?
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Under Turkish rule -The Jewish safe-haven myth
…true secularism does not mean just any secularism. It means secularism that protects individual freedoms and rights, not the ultra-nationalist kind that breeds an environment in which Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” is a bestseller, the Armenian 'genocide' is denied and minorities are persecuted. Hrant Dink, the Armenian editor, was murdered by such a nationalist. It is this mix of virulent nationalism and predatory Islam in Turkey that makes the challenge for Turkish secular liberals greater than for any other liberal movement today.
Start reading here
Continue reading here.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Conversations with God
Since I don't feel well, I hang around in the house, moving from bedroom to living room, and spent a lot of time watching movies. Up to 5 a day. Also because I am not inspired at all to write something - maybe - interesting.
Last Saturday, one of the movies was 'Conversations with God', which first didn't attract me at all: another lunatic who pretend to get his/her orders out of the universe! And it sounded something evangelic. No, not for me. But after a couple of minutes, I stayed watching, and I must say: incredible. A simple man, a simple story, but so powerful. No dictates how to 'believe', how to worship...
The movie was also down-to-earth, nothing sensational, over-emotional. No, a sober inspiring story.
You can read about Neal Donald Walsch more here. And his books are translated in Turkish (in fact, my wife told me to watch the show). So...enjoy.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A new approach
Gülen movement forms supranational new elite.
On the second day of a conference titled "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement," inaugurated at the British House of Lords on Thursday, academics from around the world focused on Gülen's ideas and the impact of the Gülen movement on the Islamic world.
The conference titled about the Gülen Movement, inaugurated in the British House of Lords on Thursday, attracted hundreds of academicians and scholars.
In the morning session held Friday, titled "The Gülen Movement in Redefining Turkey and Anatolian Muslimness," Marie-Elisabeth Maigre, a researcher at the London School of Economics who presented a paper titled "The Influence of the Gülen Movement in the Emergence of a Turkish Cultural Third Way," said the Gülen movement had built a bridge between opposite poles in Turkey through its activities.
Maigre indicated that Gülen has undertaken a significant role as a "man of compromise and synthesis" to mediate between "local and global concepts" and the "Kemalists and Islamists." Maigre also stressed that the Gülen movement attached great importance to the multicultural tissue of Turkey by backing freedom of faith and expression, democracy and Turkey's EU bid. Urging the audience to question themselves by asking them whether the Gülen movement had an impact on the moderation of political Islam in Turkey, Maigre underlined that the greatest achievement of the movement has been to drag the Islamist movements and their supporters in Turkey to a moderate "third path."
William Park, a lecturer in the Defense and War Studies Group at London University, who presented a paper titled “The Fethullah Gülen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon,” argued that the Gülen movement had created a new supranational elite through its education and dialogue activities. Park stated that this elite group assumed important responsibility to have a positive impact on relations between states. He also contended that the movement reflected “Turkish values” more successfully than any other groups, saying, “The Gülen movement presents different aspects of Turkey to the whole world successfully.”
Professor Marcia Hermansen from Chicago’s Loyola University presented her extensive ethnographic study that she conducted over the symbols of the Gülen movement in a presentation titled “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community.” She pointed out that words relating to space and water were selected as names for the companies and institutions that are linked to the Gülen movement, stressing that words connoting inactivity such as a name of a lake were not selected, which she showed as the dynamic character of the Gülen movement.
Journalist Mustafa Akyol, who stressed that Turkish history, experiences and sprit all differed from those of other Islamic countries, said it was possible to talk about a Turkish Islam, which he thought was represented by the Gülen movement. Akyol said the Gülen movement was one with roots that were established in a tradition dating back to Ottoman times and added that it showed how the Islamic world can be modernized in the real sense.
Meanwhile, Gülen sent a message to the participants of the conference thanking them for their contributions to an academic investigation of the problems of humanity and what Islam proposes as solutions. He also expressed his sadness at not being able to attend the conference due to health problems.
In his message Gülen said: “Through the endeavors of worthy people like yourselves, I hope that in the end we will be able to discover common values on which to establish a better world and to bring about peace and cooperation between peoples in the future. I hope that this altruistic movement, whatever it is called, will spread and will carry us to the desired horizon where cultures and civilizations can meet and reach a consensus. It is my perception that these activities, which have been put in action so far under the rubric of ‘understanding,’ ‘tolerance,’ and ‘dialogue,’ would be better if pursued from now on within the framework of emphasizing and gathering around universal human values and a framework of reciprocal respect for the position of those with different perceptions, beliefs and thoughts.”
On the second day of a conference titled "Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement," inaugurated at the British House of Lords on Thursday, academics from around the world focused on Gülen's ideas and the impact of the Gülen movement on the Islamic world.
The conference titled about the Gülen Movement, inaugurated in the British House of Lords on Thursday, attracted hundreds of academicians and scholars.
In the morning session held Friday, titled "The Gülen Movement in Redefining Turkey and Anatolian Muslimness," Marie-Elisabeth Maigre, a researcher at the London School of Economics who presented a paper titled "The Influence of the Gülen Movement in the Emergence of a Turkish Cultural Third Way," said the Gülen movement had built a bridge between opposite poles in Turkey through its activities.
Maigre indicated that Gülen has undertaken a significant role as a "man of compromise and synthesis" to mediate between "local and global concepts" and the "Kemalists and Islamists." Maigre also stressed that the Gülen movement attached great importance to the multicultural tissue of Turkey by backing freedom of faith and expression, democracy and Turkey's EU bid. Urging the audience to question themselves by asking them whether the Gülen movement had an impact on the moderation of political Islam in Turkey, Maigre underlined that the greatest achievement of the movement has been to drag the Islamist movements and their supporters in Turkey to a moderate "third path."
William Park, a lecturer in the Defense and War Studies Group at London University, who presented a paper titled “The Fethullah Gülen Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon,” argued that the Gülen movement had created a new supranational elite through its education and dialogue activities. Park stated that this elite group assumed important responsibility to have a positive impact on relations between states. He also contended that the movement reflected “Turkish values” more successfully than any other groups, saying, “The Gülen movement presents different aspects of Turkey to the whole world successfully.”
Professor Marcia Hermansen from Chicago’s Loyola University presented her extensive ethnographic study that she conducted over the symbols of the Gülen movement in a presentation titled “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community.” She pointed out that words relating to space and water were selected as names for the companies and institutions that are linked to the Gülen movement, stressing that words connoting inactivity such as a name of a lake were not selected, which she showed as the dynamic character of the Gülen movement.
Journalist Mustafa Akyol, who stressed that Turkish history, experiences and sprit all differed from those of other Islamic countries, said it was possible to talk about a Turkish Islam, which he thought was represented by the Gülen movement. Akyol said the Gülen movement was one with roots that were established in a tradition dating back to Ottoman times and added that it showed how the Islamic world can be modernized in the real sense.
Meanwhile, Gülen sent a message to the participants of the conference thanking them for their contributions to an academic investigation of the problems of humanity and what Islam proposes as solutions. He also expressed his sadness at not being able to attend the conference due to health problems.
In his message Gülen said: “Through the endeavors of worthy people like yourselves, I hope that in the end we will be able to discover common values on which to establish a better world and to bring about peace and cooperation between peoples in the future. I hope that this altruistic movement, whatever it is called, will spread and will carry us to the desired horizon where cultures and civilizations can meet and reach a consensus. It is my perception that these activities, which have been put in action so far under the rubric of ‘understanding,’ ‘tolerance,’ and ‘dialogue,’ would be better if pursued from now on within the framework of emphasizing and gathering around universal human values and a framework of reciprocal respect for the position of those with different perceptions, beliefs and thoughts.”
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Fatwas
The last 20 years I was wondering who can issue a fatwa, and who are authorized to do so? So many ridiculous of these kinds of 'verdicts' are issued in the last years.
Here is a list of fatwas, I don't know if we have to take them seriously. And here is a fatwa against naked sex...
But Saudi Arabia came with a solution: a web site with authorized fatwas. A pity that the site is in Arabic only...
Although the Saudi authorities announced to modernize their judiciary, they started this week with giving two gay men each 7.000 lashes. Do you survive that?
Here is a list of fatwas, I don't know if we have to take them seriously. And here is a fatwa against naked sex...
But Saudi Arabia came with a solution: a web site with authorized fatwas. A pity that the site is in Arabic only...
Although the Saudi authorities announced to modernize their judiciary, they started this week with giving two gay men each 7.000 lashes. Do you survive that?
Monday, October 01, 2007
A Saudi way to say 'I am sorry'...you married the wrong guy...
According to the Saudi Arabian newspaper, Al Shams, of last Saturday a man divorced from his wife since she was watching TV programs which are presented by men only. That was for him 'inappropriate behavior' - especially when she was with the television 'alone'.
I don't know if there are female TV talents, looks like a bit difficult since they have to cover themselves completely. Since men don't need to go to a court to get divorced in Saudi Arabia, it's simple: you dump her near the trash...
Women are also (still) not allowed to drive there, so they have to hire a male(!) driver, which costs them half of their salary.
The picture above shows two Saudi journalists during a press conference of UN Commission on Human Rights in Riyadh. What a country...
Sunday, September 30, 2007
30th of September: His Birthday
Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi"Mawlana says - if the sky is not in love, then it will not be so clear. If the sun is not in love, then it will not be giving any light. If the river is not in love, then it will be in silence, it will not be moving. If the mountains, the earth are not in love, then there will be nothing growing."
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Anyone interested in this....
...request, send Yasemin or me an email, and we will provide you with the email of Carl.
I think that this can be pretty cool for many bloggers; a lively discussion between the Netherlands and Turkey can be interesting.
The Dutch television station which will broadcast this, is one of the best in the Netherlands.
For some grumpy people among you: this is your chance to say something, without restriction but within the borders of common sense..))
I think that this can be pretty cool for many bloggers; a lively discussion between the Netherlands and Turkey can be interesting.
The Dutch television station which will broadcast this, is one of the best in the Netherlands.
For some grumpy people among you: this is your chance to say something, without restriction but within the borders of common sense..))
Monday, September 17, 2007
On the same page...
An interview with the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, Mesrob II, read it here.
..and an article about the folksinger İsmail Türüt who is praising in his last song (lyrics by Ozan Arif) the people that killed Dink and Father Andrea Santoro, an Italian priest in the Black Sea region. Read it here.
Interesting to start your day and week with...racism...
Friday, September 14, 2007
I am a REDHEADED person
"Hans, since u are a christian man married to a Muslim woman, then u actually do not know what u're talking about!! this marriage is not right according to both Islamic and christian rulings, which means that u don't respect neither ur religion, nor the other's religion.Hans, do u believe in justice, and freedom ,or u're like those redheaded in turkey?!! '
I made a comment about the Muslim Brotherhood on Sondos' blog, and got this (anonymous) reply back. When I first saw it, I thought: wow, how nice. Then, I saw that this person writes Muslim with a capital and Christian without. The hate over there in Egypt against Christians (especially Copt) is obvious.
Although I think that 'Sondos' is a witty and intelligent woman, she defends the Muslim Brotherhood as they are like some kind of peacemakers. And in the meanwhile, she defends that violence against the 1948 'invaders' (read Jews) are legitimate. In my humble opinion: The Arabs invaded Jerusalem!
Sondos, I have Turkish Muslim friends who are married to Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Jews, Protestants, Bahia's, Atheists, Armenian Orthodox and Buddhists. Do you have them as well? Or are the MB and Hamas their racist ideology your only guidance?
Ever notice that a civil marriage is legal?
Sondos: Do you want to convert Julius Cesar and Shakespeare to Islam too?.....Oops, I get emotional, but insults and stupid comments like the one above are not for us, we, me.
And don't use Turkey as an example a proxy for your blood hunt against everything who is non Muslim.
I made a comment about the Muslim Brotherhood on Sondos' blog, and got this (anonymous) reply back. When I first saw it, I thought: wow, how nice. Then, I saw that this person writes Muslim with a capital and Christian without. The hate over there in Egypt against Christians (especially Copt) is obvious.
Although I think that 'Sondos' is a witty and intelligent woman, she defends the Muslim Brotherhood as they are like some kind of peacemakers. And in the meanwhile, she defends that violence against the 1948 'invaders' (read Jews) are legitimate. In my humble opinion: The Arabs invaded Jerusalem!
Sondos, I have Turkish Muslim friends who are married to Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Jews, Protestants, Bahia's, Atheists, Armenian Orthodox and Buddhists. Do you have them as well? Or are the MB and Hamas their racist ideology your only guidance?
Ever notice that a civil marriage is legal?
Sondos: Do you want to convert Julius Cesar and Shakespeare to Islam too?.....Oops, I get emotional, but insults and stupid comments like the one above are not for us, we, me.
And don't use Turkey as an example a proxy for your blood hunt against everything who is non Muslim.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The AKP watch and Wordpress
Sean, who is living in Lower Saxony sent me a link. The creepy involvement of these idiots is scary. Here is the link.
Wordpress and the lawyer of this Adnan O. boggy guy, are not twisting in courts, it's a status quo: no solution expected soon.
After almost four weeks, no progress is made and I don't expect any solution soon.
Unless the Ombudsman, which was proposed by the AK party, but vetoed by former
President Sezer, becomes a law, then... only then, we can maybe expect something. And I am sure that the AK party has to show its true face.
It's now up to the AKP government to show how genuine they are...
Wordpress and the lawyer of this Adnan O. boggy guy, are not twisting in courts, it's a status quo: no solution expected soon.
After almost four weeks, no progress is made and I don't expect any solution soon.
Unless the Ombudsman, which was proposed by the AK party, but vetoed by former
President Sezer, becomes a law, then... only then, we can maybe expect something. And I am sure that the AK party has to show its true face.
It's now up to the AKP government to show how genuine they are...
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Inquisition in Egypt
According to many Egyptian writers, intellectuals and bloggers, there is a real witch hunt going on in Egypt. Lawyers like Nabih el-Wash, try to prosecute everybody and everything who is not praising Allah and see the poems of the Egyptian poet Abdel Moati Hegazi (picture above) as sacrilege. He, Abdel Moati, compared the arch conservative 'sjeikh' Yusuf el-Badri not as a scholar but opportunist, who wants to make easy money. Yusuf el-Badri is one of the the people who filed complaint after complaint. In the mean while he is getting rich with the money he gets by the court decisions.
Yusuf el-Badri after a court case with one of his fans.The lawyer El-Wash sees the highlight of his career when an Egyptian movie producer was convicted to 80 whip layers when she stated that many girls were not virgin anymore.
Ten years ago, the academic Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid and his wife were forced to divorce since he was not a 'Muslim' anymore, so he can not be married to a Muslim wife. One of the complainants was Yusuf el-Badri. In the end, Abu Zeid and his wife asked for political asylum in the Netherlands. Currently he works as a Professor at the university of Leiden and Utrecht.
Kareem is imprisoned since he discussed and criticized the Egyptian government.
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