Members of local councils and Land parliaments with roots in Turkey are examples of successful integration. On Wednesday (29 March), they visited the Federal Foreign Office for talks with Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière and the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Aydan Özoğuz. The meeting focused on how…
Tag: Turkey
Syria’s tragic milestone: 4 million refugees — Rescue org
This Syrian boy lives in a makeshift refugee camp in northern Jordan. More than 4 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries which are now struggling to cope with the influx. Photo: Meredith Hutchison/IRC The world is witnessing its most catastrophic refugee crisis in almost 25 years. The number of Syrians who have fled to…
Eat your way through Islamic history at the Aga Khan Museum’s restaurant, Diwan — Toronto Life com
An open-faced prawn kati roll, with paratha-and-egg omelette, tamarind prawns, tomato and chopped onion ($16). (Image: Caroline Aksich) The new Aga Khan Museum, housed in an unapologetically modern building designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, isn’t without a few historical nods. There are the traditional Islamic motifs on the museum’s patterned glass and, of course,…
“Badakhshan” in Turkey — Eurasia Net news on 11th Konya International Mystic Music Festival featured the 6-member Badakhshan Ensemble (Tajikistan)
The 11th Konya International Mystic Music Festival featured the 6-member Badakhshan Ensemble (Tajikistan) in a concert of spiritual and traditional music of Badakhshan on the evening of 24 September. The Ensemble’s participation in the Festival comes as part of a long-term relationship between the Aga Khan Music Initiative and the Festival. The Music Initiative was…
Who are the Iraqi Kurds? —Research by PEW Research org plus video on the pluralistic and diverse Kurds throughout the History and other related information
In the continuing conflict in Iraq, Kurds frequently are mentioned alongside Iraq’s Sunni and Shia Muslim populations as one of the key groups involved in power struggles for which sharp religious divides have played a major part. But while the Kurds are a crucial part of Iraq’s political makeup, they are an ethnic group, not…
Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy: Pilgrimage to Pakistan — Project Syndicate / Qantara de article by Mai Yamani
Read article in Deutsch Außenpolitik Saudi-Arabiens:Pilgerreise nach Pakistan ***** In recent years, Saudi Arabia has become increasingly estranged from the US, the world power that has held its protective hand over the kingdom for many years. The royal family has now changed the course of its foreign policy and sees Pakistan as a suitable strategic…
Christmas in Turkey — Al Monitor com article
A statue of “Noel Baba” stands in Demre, a district of the southern town of Antalya. (photo by panoramio.com/Ahmet Sertturk) (…) Turkey used to be the center of Orthodox Christianity, and according to government records, there are now 349 functioning churches in Turkey. Yet, not only the number of Christians but also the number of…
“Social work at Coffee houses Mideast” — Article by Caroline Stoneon on Saudi Aramco World about drinking coffee in middle east during 16th-century
Coffee, native to Ethiopia, was probably drunk there long before there were written records of it, both as a tea-like drink, al-qahwa al-qishriya, made from the husks of the coffee bean, and as brewed coffee made from the beans themselves, called al-qahwa al-bunniya. The beans were also often simply chewed. But the 16th-century jurist al-Jaziri…
Alumni Explore the Impact of Secularisation on Faith Communities — Institute of Ismaili Studies UK
Asian Alumni Chapter Group Meeting in Turkey 2013 Group Photo. The Asian Chapter Group of the Institute of Ismaili Studies organised their Annual General Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey from 4th-7th of July, 2013. The conference was attended by alumni from several Asian and African countries, esteemed speakers from Turkish academic institutions, senior advisers to the…
‘Ottoman Empire Documentary’: YouTube Video
Source: Curt Bastian ->>>>>><<<<<-
Turkey first NATO state with Shanghai Cooperation Organization ties — Turkish Press com
Central Asia must be transformed into a massive economic zone of prosperity, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said during a meeting in Turkistan as he underlined that Turkey recognizes its responsibilities for meeting this goal. Noting that the dissolution of the Soviet Union caused a great geopolitical, geo-cultural and geo-economic transformation in the region, Davutoglu said…
Khadija Dohry: Bridging Diversity – The Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa
“I am greatly interested in development, and my dream is to root poverty out of African societies by promoting good quality education for the less fortunate so that they can change the face of our society. Having done the IB programme, and with the skills it has equipped me with, I feel that I am…
Turkey: Women Want Equality in the Mosque – Deutsche Welle Video News
Up to now in Turkey, women entering mosques had to use side entrances and sit in dimly lit corners in galleries. The institution in Ankara known as the Presidency of Religious Affairs now wants to end this discrimination.Turkey’s Diyanet, or Presidency of Religious Affairs, wants to encourage women to visit mosques and allow them to…
Reverse Integration: Germans Learn Turkish to Promote Understanding – Spiegel de article / photos
dapd For years, the focus of the integration debate in Germany has been on the assimilation of the Turkish migrant population into German society. But now some Germans are beginning to consider it their responsibility to integrate with their Turkish neighbors — and are going to language schools to learn Turkish. “snip” ‘Bridge to…
Turkey’s top Muslim cleric slams Saudi mufti over his call to destroy churches – Today’s Zaman news
Mehmet Görmez 5 April 2012 / ABDULLAH BOZKURT , ANKARA Turkey’s top imam blasted the Saudi grand mufti’s call to “destroy all the churches” in the Gulf region, saying that the announcement is in total contradiction to the peaceful teachings of the Muslim religion. Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Mehmet Görmez, head of the…
Paris to host 1st International Nowruz Festival – Press TV News story
The 1st International Nowruz Festival is slated to be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris to celebrate the upcoming Persian New Year. Organized by ECO Cultural Institute (ECI), the event will showcase various artworks about the Persian New Year (Nowruz), and its traditional celebrations and rituals created by artists from across the world.Some…
Institute of Ismaili Studies Alumni Explore the Theme of Shari‘a in Contemporary Times – IIS News on the Academic Seminar in Istanbul
March 2012 Thirty IIS alumni from across Asia, Europe and North America came together in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2011 to discuss the theme Contested Landscape: Shari‘a Today. The Academic Seminar provided an opportunity for the alumni to engage with scholars specialising in the field and discuss shari‘a and its relevance to ethical, intellectual…
Iran Through a Canadian Lens: “Iranian Hospitality Has Stolen Our Hearts” by Muslim and Nevin Harji – Photo Essay at Simerg com
Posted on February 20, 2012 by Malik Merchant, Editor Photo Essay: Iran Through a Canadian Lens Please click for “Iran Through a Canadian Lens” About the writers: Nevin and Muslim Harji live happily in Montreal, where, over the last 35 years, they have raised two children and run a successful business. Upon retirement in…
Kronos Quartet and Alim Qasimov – By Samantha Buker at The Washington Post
More than 20 years ago, Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington heard Azerbaijan’s great singer Alim Qasimov perform mugham — Azeri poetry as song — for the first time. Meanwhile, Qasimov had a dream. He’d seen Turkish and Iranian groups play with cellos and violins. “I can only imagine,” he told the Aga Khan Trust, “what…
Turkey: Making Mosques a Place for Women – Eurasianet Org News and photos
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64668 A campaign to make Istanbul’s roughly 3,100 mosques more welcoming for women could set off a gender revolution in Turkey’s places of Islamic worship – and one that may not be uniformly welcomed. “This is about mosques being a space for women,” declared Kadriye Avci Erdemli, Istanbul’s deputy mufti, the city’s second most…