The 3rd Islamic Periodicals Symposium on “Islamism Thought and Journals from 1908 to the Present” was met with an intense participation and interest. The opening program of the symposium was held at Bağlarbaşı Cultural Center and the sessions were held at ILEM.
On Friday, April 20, the opening program held at Bağlarbaşı Cultural Center started with the Project Introduction Video. Speaking after the project introduction video, Project Coordinator Lütfi Sunar talked about the development process and goals of the project and said, “By revealing the accumulation of Islamism, we seek the opportunity to continue the discussions from where Akif, Elmali, Topçu and Karakoç left off and to look at our future with more confidence by ending with our tradition.”
Süleyman Güder, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ILEM, said that this project is “an effort to see what belongs to us as ‘what it is’ with our eyes for the construction of a new thought” and added, “Our only concern is to understand the present and build the future.”
Following Lütfi Sunar and Süleyman Güder, welcoming speeches were delivered by Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen, Istanbul Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Coşkun Yılmaz, and Üsküdar District Governor Murat Sefa Demiryürek.
After the speeches, idp.org.tr, which hosts the accumulation of Islamism, was launched with its renewed face and digital magazine archive. Then the program continued with the opening panel with the participation of Kurtuluş Kayalı, Necdet Subaşı, Alev Erkilet and Vahdettin Işık. At the end of the panel, the opening program ended with the presentation of plaques to the panelists and those who contributed to the project.
Symposium Sessions Attracted Great Interest
Islamism thought and Islamist journals from 1908 to the present were discussed in the 2-day sessions that continued at İLEM. The symposium organized 6 sessions and 30 papers were presented.
Testimonies Session
On Saturday, April 21 at 16:00, a testimonies session was held under the chairmanship of Bilal Kemikli. Ahmet Mercan, Ahmet Taşgetiren, Ali Haydar Haksal and Cevat Özkaya shared their memories of the period in the testimonies session. The session, which took place in a pleasant conversation atmosphere, attracted great interest.
Proceedings will be published as a book
As in previous symposia, the proceedings of the 3rd Islamist Journals Symposium will be expanded and published as a book. IDP symposium books are the first studies on Islamist journals.
