JWF Hosts EU Roundtable Meeting

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JWF Hosts EU Roundtable Meeting

The roundtable meeting of the European Union (EU) Delegation was held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) at the Sheraton Hotel in Ankara on January 25th, 2013.

The core value of the [Gulen] movement is embracing a pluralist society and placing importance on dialogue and democratic thinking. For this reason, it has distanced itself from politics. The movement gives importance to scientific studies, values, traditions, and religions.

Mustafa Yesil, JWF chairman

In his opening speech at the meeting, Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, head of the EU Delegation, stated that when events set for Turkey are compared with the EU’s criteria, one can see that “the Journalists and Writers Foundation is an established organization whose point of view is to be taken into account. For this reason, we are curious to know what the Foundation thinks about criteria such as the EU’s on human rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and conscience.”

Mustafa Yesil, chairman of JWF, delivered a speech about the values and principles of the Gulen movement. Yesil said the movement’s educational activities are active in three areas related to the struggle against poverty and fragmentation in the country.

Yesil said, “The most important feature of the movement should support a culture of living together. The core value of the movement is embracing a pluralist society and placing importance on dialogue and democratic thinking. For this reason, it has distanced itself from politics. The movement gives importance to scientific studies, values, traditions, and religions.”

Cemal Usak, JWF’s vice president, provided a historical outline of the Kurdish problem and expressed hope that the ‘Imrali process’ would reach a real and true solution for peace.

The meeting’s participants included the following leaders:

  • Michael Miller, first secretary of the EU ambassador
  • Sema Kilicer, political advisor to the EU Delegation to Turkey
  • Aycan Akdeniz, political advisor to the EU Delegation to Turkey
  • Omer Fazlioglu, political advisor to the EU Delegation to Turkey
  • Mustafa Yesil, JWF chairman
  • Cemal Usak, JWF vice president
  • Ali Basturk Tercan, secretary general of JWF’s Medialog Platform
  • Serafettin Pektas, director of the Brussels Intercultural Dialogue Platform
  • Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz, Fatih University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
  • Dr. Gokhan Bacik, Summit University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
  • Abdullah Bozkurt, Ankara representative of Today’s Zaman
  • Ela Demir, representative of JWF’s Medialog Platform

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