Monumental: Istanbul’s Dazzling Architecture

Ron Gluckman

The soaring Hagia Sophia reflects different periods in Istanbul’s history. (Photo: John Cavacas)

Istanbul makes all the latest travel hot lists, for good reason. Domed mosques, topped with fairy-tale minarets, anchor scores of neighborhood squares where prayer calls echo down cobbled lanes. Boats of every size navigate the Bosporus Strait, where old men crowd bridges to drop fishing lines and gossip, while along the shores, cafés serve thimbles of thick Turkish coffee.

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Violence is not in the Tradition of the Prophet

M. Fethullah Gülen *

Muslims pray each day: “O Lord! Keep us on the straight path.” It is a prayer to help us move away from the extremes and maintain balance in our lives. We must neither be hostage to our reactionary instincts, nor must we remain completely silent in the face of the systematic defamation of our values and beliefs. This balance has been upset by the violent response to the insults targeting the legacy of beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The violent response was wrong and strayed from the straight path.

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Teaching Peace in Schools

Alp Aslandoğan *

This week New York City hosts the United Nations General Assembly, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Education Nation conference. These massive events focus on international diplomacy and peace, societal problem-solving and improving classroom instruction. However, just a few blocks away from these grand assemblies, a smaller group met for the first time to tackle all these issues with a single, bold strategy.

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Ramifications of ‘Sledgehammer'

Yavuz Baydar

It took 21 months.

After a painful, intensely debated judicial process, Turkey's critical coup trial ended with not much surprise -- except to those who are the relatives of the suspects -- when a heavy series of prison sentences were issued by the court in İstanbul.

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Norwegian Christian leader: Islamophobia not just fear, includes hatred

Sevgi Akarçeşme

Gunnar Stalsett, the bishop emeritus of Oslo, warned about a hatred of Islam at a joint panel discussion organized by the Abant Platform and Fountain Magazine in İstanbul on Friday.

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Is it freedom of expression or a hate crime?

Bülent Keneş *

Let me be clear at the beginning so that no one gets confused: No provocation or instigation could justify or legitimize the killing of innocent people.

From this perspective, the murder of an American envoy and three diplomats who had nothing to do with the incidents in Benghazi of Libya cannot be tolerated, even if it was carried out in response to a heinous movie insulting our Prophet Muhammad. It is my hope that this massacre, which violated the inviolability of the right to life and the immunity of diplomats, is expeditiously investigated, and that those who committed this horrible crime receive the punishment they deserve.

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John L. Esposito: Islamophobia is symptom of broader problem

Moinuddin Ahmed

Living in a globalized world poses a great challenge for theologians and scholars as they try to develop an understanding of how people belonging to different religions and faiths can coexist.

However, we are living in a time where stereotyping a particular community has become a common practice and hampers the functioning of pluralistic societies.

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U.S. Muslims are not measured by the exemplary work of its mainstream

Jihad Turk and Salam Al-Marayati *

As American Muslims, we are civically challenged - challenged by some of our fellow Muslims, by the media, and by our limited success in having our voices (and those of the mainstream of our community) heard. Our e-mail boxes are replete with Muslim condemnations of the violent protests in reaction to the video, “Innocence of Muslims,” yet the perception remains that Muslims are silent to extremism.

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Obama praises Turkish PM for call for calm over anti-Islam film

U.S. President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday to discuss regional and global issues with the Turkish leader, the White House announced. Obama commended Erdoğan's "leadership" in his calls to resist provocation in the wake of deadly protests which erupted after a U.S.-made anti-Islam film spread over the Internet.

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Murdering the US ambassador to Libya: Anti-Westernism and Islamophobia

Ahmet T. Kuru *

US Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed a few days ago as a result of either a calculated terrorist attack or random violent anti-US protests in Libya.

It is not known yet exactly who the murderers are, but it is not early to explore the global significance of the incident.

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Time for Muslim anger management

Mustafa Akyol

Welcome to yet another clash between Muslim notions of sacredness and Western attempts to defy them: A vulgar anti-Islamic film called “The Innocence of Muslims,” which was apparently produced by a group of anti-Islamic Americans, has sparked a wave of violent anti-American protests in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. In Benghazi, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his team members were tragically killed. Fears are that the protests might lead to violence against other American targets in the Muslim Middle East and perhaps beyond.

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Guterres, Jolie discuss Syrian refugees with Turkish officials

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and UN Refugee Agency special envoy Angelina Jolie had a series of talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Friday, discussing the situation of Syrian refugees living in camps along Turkey's southern border.

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Political greed

Yavuz Baydar

In a manner of distancing itself from the real essence of demands of social transformation, Turkey's dominant politics is redefining itself on a new path, which means more trouble.

It has passed two benchmarks: the referendum on partial changes to the Constitution and the national elections last year. The direction of the vote in the two events gave strength to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and consolidated its power. And it put the leadership of the AKP before a crucial choice: It would either convert the consolidation into collectivization of power, or a personification of it.

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Turkish aid foundations working to resolve water problem in Africa

Numerous Turkish aid foundations are working to resolve Africa's long-standing water supply problem by digging wells in various countries across the continent, with over 1,500 sunk so far.

Africa suffers from a lack of drinking water due to drought, which is common across the continent. Research being conducted into the issue shows that 4,900 children die every day in Africa due to a lack of drinking water or diseases caused by drinking contaminated water.

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Bells at Diyarbakır Armenian church to toll after 97 years

The bell-tower of Diyarbakır’s Surp Giragos Armenian Church, a very important church for the Armenian community in the Middle East, is set to return to use after a 97-year interval, with a new bell made in Russia.

As part of repair and restoration work at the Surp Giragos Church a new bell was made in Moscow, and has been delivered to Diyarbakır. The bronze bell weighs 100 kilograms, and will ring from the bell-tower beginning at its reopening ceremony on Nov. 4.

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My Summer in Turkey

Despite her various concerns, Kassandra Fotiadis, a high school junior in New Jersey took a bold step and decided to spend her summer in Turkey. Here, she shares how this life-changing experience let to a broader/better understanding of the country, its people, culture and religion:

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