Annual workshop organized by Peace Islands Institute was held last week on August 23-25 in Morristown, NJ. More than 200 people attended this three-day event at the Hyatt Morristown at Headquarters Plaza. Guest speakers from various states participated in this program. President of Turkic American Alliance Dr. Faruk Taban and Executive Director of the Rethink Institute Dr. Fevzi Bilgin were also invited from Washington, DC, as guest speakers of for the workshop.
The annual workshop aimed at promoting a better understanding of the organizational framework of the Institute and sharing knowledge and experiences of guest speakers.
“While gaining valuable experience and insights from speakers and panel discussions, this type of events help us to refresh our understanding of the Institute’s mission and vision,” one of the participants said.
Dr. Faruk Taban’s presentation focused on TAA’s history, activities, and future path. In his presentation Dr. Taban highlighted the recent history of TAA from its first days at the time of launching the new headquarters in Washington, DC and holding Gala Receptions with Members of the US Congress. He also mentioned the growing role of TAA as an organization that unites Diasporas of Central Asian countries and Turkic communities of former Soviet Union Republics. At the end of the presentation Dr. Taban emphasized that Turkic-American generation will be having a key role in advancing TAA’s mission to the future. To this iam, TAA implemented several projects, such as Internship programs at the United States Senate and House of Representatives, as well as at the Turkic American Alliance, aimed at training highly qualified cadres.
Dr. Fevzi Bilgin of the Rethink Institute presented two recent papers on Resolving Turkey’s Kurdish Issue and Revisiting Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation. PDF versions of both papers and other issues can be found by clicking on the following link: http://www.rethinkinstitute.org/index.php/about-rethink-institute
In addition, Abdullah Antepli of Duke University, NC and Ahmet Kurucan, columnist for Zaman in Turkey, also gave their presentations the same day. In their presentations, both Imam Antepli and Dr. Kurucan stressed the significance of contemporary pillars of interfaith dialogues to reach out to all layers of social life pyramid.
Participants of the workshop, who packed the Conference Hall of the hotel, actively engaged in Q&A session after the each presentation by guest speakers.
Peace Islands Institute is a non-governmental and non-for-profit organization that aspires to facilitate a forum of mutual respect and collaboration through promoting education, friendship, and harmony and taking a stand for all peoples in a society of different ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
