Yavuz Aydin the head of the Turkish Schools established around South Africa observed that one of their schools had made history at the recently concluded matriculation exams as it produced the only student in South Africa to ever get 13 distinctions.

Ignorance has been the root cause of many wrong practices throughout the history.  In the past it was much easier to be troubled based on ignorance since the world was not as flat as it is today. However, in today’s world where the knowledge is only a click away, getting into trouble based lack of knowledge or true guidance is almost inexcusable.

Not violence, not weapons, not terrorism, not bombs or any other life taking avenues are solution to the newly growing generations of East and West.  The violence is not a problem of East only. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Germany Public School murders, Norway genocide and many more recent… It is in greater scale in Afghanistan, bottom line all those souls need the sincere atmosphere of peace, dialogue and respect for others. Just like those Gulen inspired schools have been offering in Afghanistan, or Oprah funded schools in Africa..

The United States of America has been the leader for best practices in terms of peaceful coexistence practices. Indeed after the Ottoman Empire, U.S. has been the only one which was able to govern citizens from various ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds with a very high level of justice, freedom and liberty on its land. Think about China, Russia, Germany and many other powerful countries which have been suffering through major problems in terms of social justice. Check the Middle East or the Balkans after the Ottomans they still could not settle down. However, the Gulen Movement, and the Gulen inspired schools have been establishing such mini peace islands all over the world where all members of such communities from various religious, racial and ethnic background can teach, learn, interact and live together and not symbolizing only but also modeling, politics free, real life model united nations. Sometimes in Nigeria, sometimes in Bangladesh and sometimes in Australia…

Fethullah Gulen, as a well known peace and dialogue advocate has announced such ideas that have ruined the PKK terrorists’ ideologies, arguments and efforts to develop social grounds for their violent attacks over the innocent people in Turkey.  It was crucial to hear such announcements from someone who was born and raised in the eastern part of Turkey, who at the same time a well know Islamic Scholar. Those terrorist have been trying to establish social grounds based on lack of understanding for the eastern Turkey’s citizens and also lack of freedom of use for the native language in the eastern Turkey which have lost serious grounds after such statements from an authority like Mr. Fethullah Gulen, indicating the importance of freedom of expression and justice for all virtues via giving examples from the current practices in United States.

“Be so tolerant that your heart becomes wide like the ocean. Become inspired with faith and love for others. Offer a hand to those in trouble, and be concerned about everyone” F. Gulen

"... and when I spoke with my father about the award, one of the things that we talked about was some of the poetry of Rumi, and one line in particular, 'Move outside the tangle of fear thinking,' which he [Archbishop Tutu] believes has been what has led him in his life to recognize the common humanity of all. When we can move beyond fear thinking and see in one another brothers and sisters who share fears, hopes and dreams, our move for a peaceful and just world will come about." Nontombi Naomi Tutu,Archibishop Tutu’s daughter

Some people carry the wisdom for some long term visions and missions, and some people carry the wisdom to not only carry such long term visions and missions but also have the interventions to implement them. “The Anatolia in Los Angeles Festival” organized by Gulen Movement followers according to Ergun Babahan, did introduce many shared values between the “True Western Values and the True Eastern Values”  i.e. democracy, respect for diversity, the rule of unbiased law, the protection of minorities - even faith minorities at the West Coast of the United States of America. Congrats to organizers and recognizers like Ergun Babahan.

Peace Islands Institute (formerly Interfaith Dialog Center), a non-profit organization founded by the Turkish Americans of New Jersey, organized several 9/11 commemoration events across the state. Inspired by the ideas of Turkish Muslim Scholar Fethullah Gulen, the Peace Islands Institute volunteers shared the pain of September 11 victims’ families by delivering speeches, attending prayer services, and reading verses from Bible, Torah and Quran. The events drew huge crowd and were met by appreciation from the public and the government officials.