A Criterion Viewing the World from Turkey

To be truthful, I think that intellectuals, businessmen, and bureaucrats from the National Education and Foreign Affairs ministries should evaluate Hodjaefendi's educational and cultural advances, especially those directed toward the Central Asian republics, both carefully and fairly. These advances clearly show how Turkey should view the world.

Another important point is Hodjaefendi's independent approach to daily politics and politicians. It would be a mistake to reduce his expression "Turkish Muslimness" to a national axis with an interpretation that goes beyond what was intended. I understand this expression to mean that Islam will blossom differently in different areas and different cultural atmospheres, as it has done so until now. I interpret this as a sign of the multicolored, multidimensional richness of the Muslim peoples.

Prof. Nabi Avci, Comments on Ufuk Turu by Eyup Can, Istanbul, 1996