Turkish Forum

Tag: Sufi

  • Armenia and Turkey: Let us be Friends for Once

    Armenia and Turkey: Let us be Friends for Once

    Commentary — By Milena Abrahamyan on October 21, 2012 9:00 am

    Original artwork from the Beyond Borders project/ by Milena Abrahamyan

    The conflict, if it can be called that, between Turkey and Armenia, is an unusual one. It is more like a 100-year-old post-conflict that has been locked up and forgotten, at least on the Turkish side of the border. In Armenia it is much more difficult to ignore the real effects of that contested history. Inasmuch as this “post-conflict” has to do with the early 20th century Ottoman policy of extermination of non-Muslim minorities within Turkey, including the genocide of Armenians living there before 1915, it has also evolved to include the interests of more powerful countries. The presence of U.S. military bases in Turkey and Russian military bases in Armenia is no coincidence. The issue is further complicated by Turkish alliance with Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabagh war.

    So far, peace talks between the two governments have yielded no results. Although civil society occasionally engages in peace building activities across the closed Turkish-Armenia border, women’s issues are almost never on the frontline. Yet much of the nationalism and violence that has built and continues to build the borders of these two countries relies on the subordination of women, ensuring that their place within society stays within the private sphere. Women are supposed to be the mothers of the nation. They are supposed to be housewives, to give birth to boys. They are supposed to be polite and courteous, and they are supposed to remain silent. They are not taken seriously enough on either side of the border to be granted a seat at the negotiating table, although they are often the first to suffer the effects of violence, conflict and war.

    Unfortunately, the decade long closure of the Turkish-Armenian border has also led to an atmosphere of ignorance on both sides, making it harder to imagine the “other” as anything other than a stereotype. A 2005 opinion survey [PDF] taken on both sides of the border revealed that a large percentage of respondents in Turkey did not know much about Armenia and that many of the respondents in Armenia had strong negative prejudices against their neighboring Turkey. In a way, both peoples have placed themselves inside of “cultural ghettos”, to use Elif Shafak’s term, and are now suffering as a result. In a speech on the power of storytelling, the prominent Turkish novelist states: “One way of transcending these cultural ghettos is through the art of storytelling. Stories cannot demolish frontiers, but they can punch holes in our mental walls and through those walls, we can get a glimpse of the other and sometimes even like what we see.”

    In light of this, a group of women from Armenia and Turkey have come together and initiated the Beyond Borders: Linking Our Stories project. This project will do away with the middle man. Literally. We believe that women should take peace into their own hands and one way to begin is by sitting down with one another, across borders and across difference, to tell our stories. This method will aid in the compassion that both sides need to have and the healing that both sides need to do in order to build sustainable peace. Allowing peace negotiations that happen at higher levels of government, which often emphasize the importance of individual nations and their interests, to continue leading the way to peace will yield no lasting results. Allowing peace-building to happen within civil society without addressing the issues and needs of women will fail to build the kind of solidarity needed for both peoples to advance in any meaningful way.

    The Beyond Borders: Linking Our Stories initiative is a collaboration between volunteers and staff of two women’s organizations in Armenia and Turkey. We aim to collect a number of interviews from women in both countries, to transcribe, translate and post each story on our blog, to hold a conference in Sirince, Turkey in July 2013 with 14 participants from both sides, to hold workshops on conflict transformation and theater techniques, and to produce a final performance based on the collected stories. We will also publish two books: one in Armenian and Turkish only, and one in English. A short film will be made documenting the meeting and the final performance in Sirince. And finally, a second performance and book release will be held in Yerevan, Armenia.

    We are counting on people who believe in this project and want to work with us to transform the long standing conflicted relationship between Armenia and Turkey for support. Please visit our Kickstarter campaign page to donate, to learn more about the project and to share with your friends. The support we have gotten so far from people in many different parts of the world is encouraging and making us realize that this project is much needed and anticipated.

    “The earth shall be left to no one,” the 13th century Sufi mystic, Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, says. “…let us be friends for once.”

    via Armenia and Turkey: Let us be Friends for Once.

  • Be Muslim for a month in Istanbul: pray five times a day and fast

    Be Muslim for a month in Istanbul: pray five times a day and fast

    A chance to be immersed in Islam, particularly Sufi traditions and the mystic Rumi – without having to convert

    * guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 April 2011 20.53 BST

    Blue Mosque in Istanbul A reflection extends the minarets on the Blue Mosque, one of Istanbul's Muslim sights. Photograph: Richard Hamilton Smith/Corbis

    Blue Mosque in Istanbul

    A reflection extends the minarets on the Blue Mosque, one of Istanbul’s Muslim sights. Photograph: Richard Hamilton Smith/Corbis

    It has the ingredients of a conventional holiday – experiencing the culture and hospitality of one of the most exciting cities in the world. But few getaways encourage its participants to pray five times a day or try their hand at fasting, especially when those people are not Muslim.

    A social enterprise is offering individuals the opportunity to immerse themselves in Islam, without having to convert, through a trip to Istanbul that takes in the regular sights and sounds but also includes prayers at dawn and midnight and lessons on Islam and its basic practices.

    It draws heavily on the country’s Sufi traditions – with a particular emphasis on the poet and mystic Rumi. Ben Bowler, from the Blood Foundation, which runs the project, said: “We wanted to focus on Rumi because he is a unifying figure. Turkey has a relatively open brand of Islam and Istanbul is an existing tourist destination.

    “There is a willingness to engage with the west. We might not have found it in the Middle East or parts of south Asia. If we were in Saudi Arabia it would have been harder.”

    The foundation has called the initiative Muslim for a Month, despite it lasting nine days, and wants to offer a 21-day programme in the future. Bowler said most people would find it difficult to take a month off and admitted even the nine-day programme, which offers bed, board, instruction and sightseeing for £600, could have limited appeal.

    “We currently offer Monk for a Month, where people spend time in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet. That is successful. The difference is that there’s a curiosity about Buddhism in the west. People are attracted to it, people who do meditation for example.”

    In addition to praying and fasting, participants will forsake alcohol and pork. Smoking is, however, permitted. They will also be expected to carry out pre-prayer ablutions, mastering the art of hoiking their feet into a washbasin as part of the process.

    Bowler described the clash between “Muslims and the rest of the world” as one of the most “contentious issues around” and said Muslim for a Month will appeal to “open-minded” individuals who want something educational and cultural.

    “Our hosts don’t want to make the prayers obligatory but I think if you’re going to do something you should dive in. They might work up to five prayers a day – including the early morning one”. In mid-May, when the programme is due to start, the dawn prayer in Istanbul is around 3.30am.

    An inaugural programme in February involving participants connected to Monk for a Month attracted Catholics, an agnostic, some Jews and a Hindu from around the world. Although nobody converted – and there is no obligation to do so – Bowler said there were changed attitudes and a deeper understanding of Islam.

    “If we attract people who are predisposed to like Islam, that’s fine. I would like to think people aren’t so duplicitous that they will see Muslims for a Month as a cheap holiday to Istanbul.

    “There is no illusion that bowing down to Mecca five times a day makes you a Muslim. It’s what the rituals and practices represent – a constant consciousness of the divine.”

    Outreach programmes about Islam are nothing new. The Living Library, which operates in 12 countries and “loans” people out to challenge prejudice and stereotypes, features Muslims in its lending scheme. Deepening ties with Muslim communities is also a central plank of Barack Obama’s presidency. Last year he hosted an entrepreneurship summit.

    Television has also tried to play a part in improving people’s understanding of Islam. Make Me a Muslim, shown on Channel 4 in 2007, featured a gay hairdresser, an atheist taxi driver with a porn habit and a glamour model. Their Muslim mentors guided them in the dos and don’ts of the religion. The BBC’s offering – The Retreat – was shown that same year.

    via Be Muslim for a month in Istanbul: pray five times a day and fast | Travel | The Guardian.