European Turkey: Modernization, Secularism, and Islam

December 3-4, 2004. A.D. White House, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

It is a great honor to announce that the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the United States, Dr. Osman Faruk Logoglu is coming to Ithaca, NY to actively participate to the Turkish forum.

The Institute for European Studies’ Mediterranean Initiative is pleased to announce the third in a series of workshop-forums devoted to countries of the Mediterranean which are, for various reasons, the focus of world attention. This Fall we have chosen Turkey as our focus of interest, partly because of the controversy surrounding Turkey’s bid to become part of the E. U., and partly because Turkish immigrants and their descendents form an important Muslim minority in Europe.

The forum will take as its themes, the creation of the modern Turkish state, Turkey’s development since the Second World War, minorities in Turkey, the threat to the secular state from Islamic fundamentalism, Turkey’s relations with Europe, and the role of trade and economic development in maintaining Turkey’s secular status.

This Forum is Co-sponsored by the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Near Eastern Studies and Music Department at Cornell University.

The official press release as well as the event’s detailed program will be sent soon to many U.S and American-Turkish media.