Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen Movement

 I am Venilde Jerenimo. I am the Associate Director of Development of School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. This trip has been more than I ever thought possible. I have to start off by saying that I really did not know very much about the Rumi Forum, or the (Gulen) movement that we have been exposed to, or the people that have supported it over the last several years. On a personal level, I am a Catholic. One of the reasons that I wanted to come to this trip was to have my own values we enforced. Instead what I have found was a lot of new ways that people pray, people cherish their God, people give back to their community. That has been very inspirational for me. We have been to Ephesus, for me I think was the top of the personal journey for me. As a Catholic you believe in the Virgin Mary, and the significance of that figure in the Catholicism. Being at a holy site where she may have lived her last days, for me, was very moving. My grandparents, my parents devoted the Virgin Mary, so to be at a place, where you can go back home at tell them about my experience here, is very very moving for me. I have cried at the site, the Church, so it was very moving for me at a personal level. 

On another personal level, this whole trip has not been artificial. There has been nothing artificial about this tour. I have been in another few tours that were supposed to be intercultural, that we were supposed to meet people, supposed to be experiencing their daily lives, but it does not meet what we have done here. I think that has to do with all the people, who are involved with the Rumi Forum, or the (Gulen) movement here. I have to say that Ali has been a wonderful tour guide. I think he has also been an inspirational and spiritual leader for us here as well. In the time we have been here he has been very devoted to his prayers while we have been here for the last ten days. I don’t know whether you all have noticed but he has taken time even while he was with us to be with himself and his prayers. I think that is very moving as well personally. Sumeyye has been very inspirational as a spouse and also as a mother.  I have not had a lot of interaction with a lot of other faiths growing up, the only one I have become in my adult life that I have been able to interact with different faiths. I think being in a tour with a couple. I know she usually does not company you in these tours, but it’s been really lovely to see that; to be involved with a Muslim, individuals very devoted to Islamic faith in a tour has made a huge difference to me. I have spoken to few other people as well, so thank you very much for taking the time to be with us. You also brought your daughter and your son, and it is just wonderful in that perspective; that is personally.

Professionally I came back to international relations education a few years ago, even if I’ve been in international education in many years.  I believe in international education. I believe that to peace, to prosperity, to economic development, to sustainability of the earth there has to be common understanding, and I think education is where it needs to be. It is not through hard diplomacy, it is not through wars, it is not through military actions; it is through people understanding one and other, whether it is intercultural societal differences or interfaith differences, so being here in Turkey allows me to greater insight into Turkey for my own work. The school of Foreign Service where I am at, we have an institute for Turkish studies, we have a center for Christian-Muslim Understanding, and other similar sorts of institutes; so I have a better perspective professionally about the Turkish people, and a better understanding of who they are; so I can talk more intelligently, and have better insights into my own work. I am very grateful not only Ali and the Rumi Forum but to the participants here who I think have been wonderful. So I thank you all for the opportunity to be here.