RUMI FORUM TO BESTOW PEACE AND DIALOGUE AWARDS

Today’s Zaman
Oct 29 2009
Turkey

The Rumi Forum bestowed its annual Peace and Dialogue Awards on
Tuesday.

The Rumi Forum, a think tank established by Turks living in Washington,
D.C., to foster intercultural dialogue, bestowed its traditional Peace
and Dialogue Awards on Tuesday, honoring Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ä°hsanoglu,
Democratic Congressman Gerry E.

Connolly of Virginia, Professor John Borelli from Georgetown
University, Professor Sidney Griffith from the Catholic University of
America, Maureen Fiedler, host of the Interfaith Voices radio program
on WAMU radio, and Ebru TV, a Turkish channel aired in the US.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers called on US President
Barack Obama not to send additional troops to Afghanistan in his
speech at the award ceremony, adding: "You cannot get peace by
winning wars. … There is no military victory in Iraq, Afghanistan
or anywhere else."

Congressman Connolly praised the activities of the Rumi Forum,
saying, "If there is something that I think is important and that is
represented by this forum tonight and the work of the Rumi Forum, it
is the ability it has to bind us all in tolerance and understanding."

Congressman Mike McMahon of New York described the protocols signed
between Armenia and Turkey for the normalization of their diplomatic
ties and the opening of their border as historic.

Several attendees speaking at the award ceremony expressed their
support and admiration for the honorary president of the Rumi Forum,
Fethullah Gulen, a renowned Islamic scholar advocating increased
interfaith dialogue. "He is not only working hard to teach us respect
for one another but also the necessity of learning more about one
another," Professor Griffith said of Gulen.

Great interest in the ceremony from congressmen The Rumi Forum award
ceremony was attended by 14 congressmen, both Republican and Democrat,
the largest number so far present at an event organized by Turks living
in Washington, D.C. The attendees were Gerry Connolly (Virginia);
John Conyers (Michigan); Walter Jones, Larry Kissell, Howard Coble
and Bob Etheridge (North Carolina); Keith Ellison (Minnesota); Bill
Cassidy (Louisiana); Nick Rahall (West Virginia); Mike McMahon (New
York); Jean Schmidt (Ohio); Robert Aderholt (Alabama); Kendrick Meek
(Florida); and Vic Snyder (Arkansas).

Representatives, including ambassadors, from embassies of Turkey,
Afghanistan, Albania, Yemen, Romania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Moldova, Greece, South Africa, Bahrain, Fiji and Mali also attended
the event.