SETA PANEL  Chair:     Talip Küçükcan     SETA Participants:     Dr. Bashir Ansari     Afghan intellectual and writer     Prof. M. Nazif Shahrani     Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures & Central Asian and Middle Eastern Studies,     Indiana University, United States Date: August 13, 2009 Time: 11.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara  

SETA PUBLIC LECTURE By  Nader Hashemi  Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver Date: June 8, 2009 Monday  Time: 16.00 – 18.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

This is a question you get all the time when the conversation turns to Islam and the Muslim world. And it is usually followed by another set of questions: What do Muslims think about terrorist attacks? Do they really believe in democracy and human rights? Are women treated equally in Muslim societies? Can Muslims live in peace with other religions and cultures?

According to a Herald Tribune report ("Young Iraqis are Losing their Faith in Religion," March 3, 2008), Iraqi youth are losing their religious faith.

Who talks about religion in Turkey? And how do they talk about it? We took up these two questions on the state-owned TRT 1 station last week.

The debate over lifting the headscarf ban has turned into a larger debate about freedoms in Turkey. While the vast majority of Turks support the expansion of civil liberties, there seems to be a fundamental disagreement as to how freedoms should be prioritized. The problem with this is that until and unless the question of freedoms is taken as a whole, there will be no guarantee for civil liberties in Turkey.

The race for the presidential nomination in the US is heating up. While John McCain seems to have secured his nomination for the Republican Party, the battle on the Democratic side is not subsiding, and the Obama-Clinton rivalry is likely to continue for a few more weeks. What after that?

Freedom of religion and worship is a fundamental human right that everyone should enjoy regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality or religious preference. The right to follow a particular religion and practice its rituals is recognized as legitimate by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

A debate over the headscarf is revealing new dimensions of political discourse in Turkey. While conservatives and liberals use the universal language of basic rights and liberties, laicists use a heavily religious language to prove that the headscarf is not a religious obligation.

Last week Turkey witnessed a first. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan broke his fast with 1,000 Alevis in Ankara. The fast was in observance of the beginning of the month of Muharram.

SETA CONFERENCE By  Dr. Kamran Bokhari  Strategic Forecasting Inc. (Stratfor), Director of Middle East Analysis Date: November 8, 2007 Thursday Time: 15.00 - 16.30 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

The expectation from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) when it came to power in 2002 was that political discussions would be shaped by internal agenda issues.

SETA KONFERANS Konuşmacılar:     Ömer Taşpınar     National Defense University Tarih: 10 Nisan 2007 Salı Saat: 16.00 – 18.00 Yer: SETA, Ankara

SETA CONFERENCE By  Oliver Leaman  University of Kentucky Felsefe Bölümü Öğretim Üyesi Date: November 28, 2006 Tuesday  Time: 16.00 - 18.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

1-2 July, 2006 Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel, Istanbul / TURKEY

Iraq is like a miniature of the Middle East with its population structure and social characteristics. Each domestic actor in Iraq has relations with ethnic and religious groups in the neighboring countries.