{"id":6705,"date":"2018-04-26T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T10:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/?p=6705"},"modified":"2025-03-15T11:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T11:31:06","slug":"special-report-world-muslims-minorities-summit-istanbul-april-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/special-report-world-muslims-minorities-summit-istanbul-april-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Special report on the World Summit of Muslim Minorities. Istanbul, April 2108"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Presidency of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey organized the World Summit of Muslim Minorities from 16 to 19 April. More than 250 representatives from 100 countries, in which Muslims are a minority, attended the summit, which took place in Istanbul. <\/p>\n

The main goal of the summit was to connect and strengthen the relationship between Muslims, as well as to listen to their challenges and find ways to solve them together.<\/p>\n

The opening plenary session was held at the Dolmabace Palace. It was attended by all the representatives, religious authorities, activists, journalists and from the different countries. <\/p>\n

The President of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as the Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Binali Yildrim, the President of Religious Affairs, H.E. Mr. Prof. Dr. Ali Erbas, and the President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, H.E. Mr. Ismail Kahraman attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches in which the need for Muslims to work together to overcome their challenges was strongly emphasized. especially in countries where they are a minority, and to rise above the nationalism that so often divides the Muslim community. It was also mentioned that Muslims should show a positive image of Islam and be proactive in their respective societies contributing to the general welfare and development and in this way counteract the bad image given by certain marginalized groups, who claim to be acting in the name of Islam. <\/p>\n

On the first day of the summit, the same day as the opening session, a panel was held under the name “Muslim minorities within the framework of the past and future perspective”. Prof. Dr. Ali Erbas, Turkey’s President of Religious Affairs, led this panel along with other respected scholars and intellectuals. <\/p>\n

The topics discussed in this panel dealt with the need for Muslims, and especially Muslim minorities, to integrate into their societies. But an important difference was made between integration and assimilation. Integration occurs when people from different backgrounds and cultures can live harmoniously in the same society, while assimilation is when a certain group is forced to abandon its core beliefs and identity in order to be accepted. <\/p>\n

In this regard, the importance of the identity of Muslims in their societies and how role models are needed to contribute in different fields to civil society was highlighted. It was also mentioned that there is no fundamental antagonism between being from any Western country and being a Muslim, because Islam is not a nationality or a culture, but a way of life that encourages human beings to reach their maximum potential. <\/p>\n

At the beginning of Islam Muslims were minorities in many situations, such as in Mecca or Abyssinia, and each situation required a different response, but this highlights that Muslims can live as minorities and at the same time be part of the social nexus.<\/p>\n

On the second day, two panels were held, the first under the title “Problems related to the fundamental rights and freedoms of Muslim minorities and proposed solutions” which was led by the Vice-President for Religious Affairs, Selim Argun, and the second entitled “Minorities within the approach of self-criticism: discrimination, insufficient education, absence of political representation, introversion” was presented, which was led by Prof. Murtaza Bedir, Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Istanbul University.<\/p>\n

These panels were held in the roundtable format so that all representatives could intervene and express their opinions.<\/p>\n

A summary of the points raised with regard to the challenges of Muslim minorities in Western countries are: the lack of unity between communities; insufficient education; identity crisis, especially among young people, which in some extreme cases can lead to radicalisation; the problem of nationalism within Muslim communities; that there are not enough role models; a lack of organized authorities; the rise of Islamophobia and, in some countries, policies that discriminate against Muslims.<\/p>\n

The solutions to these challenges are long-term and some of them are deduced from the challenges themselves. Perhaps most importantly, it is to be proactive and contribute to each respective society in a positive way. <\/p>\n

In the second panel, in which the participants did an exercise in self-criticism, some of the issues in which Muslim minorities should strive to improve are: the need to include more women at all levels of the community, the need to delegate and empower young people, the need to end the discourse that antagonizes East and West, developing a more comprehensive education that combines secular and religious education, the need to develop sustainable models for Islamic organizations in Muslim minority countries, both in terms of economy and human resources, and the need to establish the necessary measures to have greater political representation.<\/p>\n

The panels on the third day were: “Demands and Needs of Muslim Minorities for Religious Services and Education” and “Demands and Needs of Muslim Minorities for Religious Publications.”<\/p>\n

In these panels, participants expressed the importance of conveying the message of Islam in the language of the countries in which they live, both in khutba<\/em> and in other different media and the need to have more researched and thorough publications and educational programs that are holistic and responsive to the needs of Muslims in their respective countries.<\/p>\n

On the afternoon of the third day, H.E. Foreign Minister Mevl\u00fct Cavusoglu addressed the representatives of Muslims in minority countries talking about their role in representing Islam and emphasized that they should count on the help of the Turkish people and government.<\/p>\n

The closing and announcement of the final declaration took up many of the points raised in the previous sessions, taking place on the morning of the fourth day, Thursday, April 19. This statement emphasized the compassionate character of Islam and its ability to respond to the needs of humans on a social and personal level at all times and in every situation. When we do not understand this, that is when radicalization and extremism appear, so we must work together and united to promote a correct understanding of the Deen of Islam. <\/p>\n

The Seville Mosque Foundation is very grateful to the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs for giving it the opportunity to participate in this important world summit and we look forward to putting into practice all that we have learned during it.<\/p>\n

Hafith Luqman Nieto
\n, Vice-President of the Mosque Foundation of Seville.<\/p>\n

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The Presidency of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey organized the World Summit of Muslim Minorities from 16 to 19 April. More than 250 representatives from 100 countries, in which Muslims are a minority, attended the summit, which took place in Istanbul. The main goal of the summit was to connect and strengthen the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,21,27,65,93],"tags":[523,785],"class_list":["post-6705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-activities","category-news","category-photo-galleries","category-diplomacia-en","category-luqman-nieto-en","tag-turkey-en-2","tag-world-summit-on-muslim-minorities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30740156_951093381735769_1208197759476170752_n.jpg?fit=960%2C634&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21174,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705\/revisions\/21174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mezquitadesevilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}