I Saw My Dreams in Germany
I was in Germany last weekend. After three years of being invited by readers I was finally able to go. The Zaman daily has a circulation of 50,000 in Europe, of which half is just in Germany. I met with readers in Dortmund, Bielefeld, Gelsenkirchen and Paderborn and responded to questions regarding the media and Zaman's importance, democratization, Turkey's membership in the European Union and especially the Ergenekon case.
A spirit of commitment, an understanding of devotion and a conscious awareness of protecting our values and our people is increasing are Europe. Education, dialogue and activities for compromise have created new dynamics. There are learning centers, dialogue centers and businessmen's associations in almost every part of Germany. In some cities, there is even a Zaman daily reader's club. Learning centers provide additional lessons in Turkish, math, English and German to both Turkish and German children. In places where these centers have been operating for seven or eight years, they have gained the trust and support of the community, and local leaders and have developed into fully equipped schools.
Both Turkish and German parents are pleased with these learning centers. One parent said: "They are a blessing, like a warm loaf of bread. My son was almost going to be kicked out of school. But now he is preparing to go to college. He now shows us the respect that we showed our fathers and grandparents."
These schools provide hope for children of the lost generation. Germans are also happy with the schools. Children who go to schools and learning centers are no longer a source of trouble for them. Centers for dialogue have developed into model institutions of integration and peaceful coexistence. We can say that the Germans are just getting to know us. International dialogue centers host academic and other prominent figures each month, organize trips to Turkey and promote dialogue. The International Dialogue Forum in Berlin (Fid Berlin e.V.) and Potsdam University are preparing an international Gülen conference titled "Muslims between Tradition and Modernity - the Gülen Movement as a Bridge between Cultures," to be held on May 26 and 27. Around 40 academics will attend the conference.
During a get-together with readers at Paderborn, I had the opportunity to visit a nearby Turkish boarding school called Gymnasium Eringerfeld. Die Zeit, a leading German weekly newspaper, wrote a full-page laudatory story on the school in its Aug. 13, 2007 edition. The story, which had the headline "Dream School," highlighted the important role of Fethullah Gülen's advice in the opening of these schools around the world.
These schools have high standards and really are like dream schools. Sitting on 100 acres of land, the floor area of the school building is 22,000 square meters. It has a conference hall with a maximum capacity of 1,500, a good-sized soccer field and two tennis courts. The school can accommodate up to 1,200 students. It opened three years ago, and it currently has 237 students, of which 80 are girls. There are 16 teachers of whom 12 are German and four are Turkish. The students like their school so much that sometimes they don't want to go home on the weekend. Parents are also very happy, particularly because students who graduate from this school go straight to college, and also because the grades and attitudes of their children have improved.
Turks who immigrated to Germany a half-century ago to find a job say that thanks to the Turkish schools, sending children to school is no longer a source of problems but a solution. The process of becoming a citizen of the country in which they live is accelerating. The concept of integrating into society while still being able to protect our values is gaining popularity. I saw how Turks had internalized and adopted the will to become integrated with the world while still remaining true to themselves, and it is this will that will shorten Turkey's path to EU membership.
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