In my opinion this sort of a movement (Gulen Movement) at this age and time is not just important; I think it is critical and essential to the world, especially in my opinion in portraying people of different faiths, particularly after September 11th there has been a general perception in the world in the media about fanatism fundamentalism being associated with people of the Islamic faith which is very unfortunate, because there are a lot of good peace-loving people; I think Fethullah Gulen has done a lot to bringing about tolerance and peace, exchange of ideas. I think it is just amazing; it is just an amazing set of ideals, and all the people we met seem to be living in this world of tolerance, loving and giving.

 I am Dr Jerry Gideon, I am the Academic Dean at Strayer University in Arlington, Virginia. One of the reasons that I am here is that the Arlington campus of Strayer University has a very large international community, and a very large number of those students are Muslim. A great majority of that Muslims come from Turkey. One of my Turkish students, Fatih suggested that, and asked me if I had come to Turkey before. I said no; most of my knowledge on Turkey and of Islam is book learnt, or secondhand from students or other individuals that I have met over the years. He suggested that it would be very nice, and there is an organization that might be willing to take me to Turkey, and let me experience both Turkey and Islam firsthand. He made the offer and I was very grateful when the opportunity became available.

 My name is Victor Conde; I come from California. I am a professor of international human rights law, the humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict, and also an attorney practicing in California. My area of specialty in international human rights law is of religious freedom, and so religion is very important to me. The orientation of the individual to ultimate truths of reality; I am gonna end up giving a lecture here. Let me try to modulate from academia to what we are doing here. This has been a tremendous experience for me as a human being. It was so full! I am also a classics major; in college my major was Latin and Greek, so these are all places that I used to study about. To see, to me, these rocks really say a lot, so I am happy to look at them and to be close to them, and to connect with what I studied at the university. So that was an extra special bonus: the richness of Turkey!

 I am Bob Carlson; a retired Episcopal priest, former parish pastor, former seminary professor, sometimes canon of the Washington National Cathedral. My observations about this trip, I guess, are twofold: The one rather superficial, in that, I noticed the rich diversity of this land. I mean that two ways: One geographically. I don’t know what I thought about Turkey, I thought it was all flat and desert and I came here and discovered that it is as rich as my home state of Maryland. It has wonderful seaside and hills and mountains and greenery, and then the richness of the folia: It was extremely impressive, particularly in December, where everything is turning rather dark and dismal and Washington sometimes in more ways than one. I have also noticed that the diversity of the people. You know I guess I thought the Turks as the people you saw in the movies in the thirties.

 My name is Judith Mueller. I am from Washington DC. I have spent a career working to improve the status condition of woman and girls, and therefore in that capacity have participated in many cultural exchanges and travels to help finding, identifying indicators of change where women are disadvantaged or where they have experienced great success. I was not all certain why I came on this trip apart from having the wonderful good fortune of having bumped into Jenna, and after then Ali, umm, at the connection it seemed as though, it was very clear that the purpose of Rumi Forum and trip itself was to explore the more peaceful branch of Islam, and possibly understanding Sufism would be a major trust of the program.

 My name is Tina Ramirez and I work for the US government. I work on Turkey monitoring religious freedom as well as a number of other countries. But I’ve worked on Turkey for the last two years. I’ve never traveled here so I have a friend that recommended that I come on this trip who is part of the Gulen movement. It was in expectation that I would be able to see everything that I’ve been researching, and look at how Turkey does sit in between the Middle East and its West place in the world. I am looking very much forward to seeing Turkey moving to the West more and more, and become more and more a liberal democracy.

 I am Isabelle Kinnard and I am from the Council for America’s First Freedom in Richmond, Virginia. What has struck me most profoundly about the trip is the depth and breadth of the entire experience. Turkey’s historical depth is nothing like I have experienced before, a place where civilizations have existed from prehistory until the present with so many distinct cultures and beautiful artifacts. The breadth in terms of the cultures that exist here, the food, the art, the architecture, the people; all of that has struck me intensely as the experiences that I’ve had from the outside.

 Hello, I am Russ O’Connell. I am a building inspector among other things. Originally when I heard about this trip I was excited to. I had several people that were very concerned about health and welfare being coming to a strange country. I have a friend who is Turkish who was worried because it would be overly religious. I think all the mosques, mausoleums, and the churches that we went to were interesting but the best part was the people! For me this is not gonna be, this won’t be the end of the trip. I have got emails through everybody. I am just, it is gonna carry on, and thank you!