Dialogue Awards Distributed at Ceremony in South Africa
The Peace and Dialogue Awards of the South Africa-based Turquoise Harmony Institute were presented at a splendid ceremony in Johannesburg on Thursday.
A wide range of participants, including politicians, academics, artists and sportsmen, were present at the event where awards were given under five categories. The award winners praised the activities carried out by the institute in their acceptance speeches. The premier of the country's Gauteng state, Nomvula Mokonyane, was the ceremony's key speaker. Addressing the audience, Mokonyane said she had cancelled her program in parliament in order to attend.
She touched on the importance of such an organization in an African country that had unfortunately been the home of history's harshest racist movements. The Turquoise Harmony Institute is one of the dialogue centers inspired by the prominent Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to promote mutual understanding and exchange between people from different cultures and religions.
The audience was moved by the speech of this year's winner of the Fethullah Gülen Special Award, Ahmed Kathrada, a devoted companion of South Africa's legendary leader Nelson Mandela. Unable to hold back his tears while speaking, Kathrada said he was accepting the award not on his own behalf but in the name of his friends imprisoned in their fight against racist practices and who did not regain their freedom and breathed their last breath behind bars. Kathrada spent 18 of the 26 years of his imprisonment together with Mandela at the infamous Robben Island. Last year's special award was given to Mahatma Gandhi's granddaughter, Ela Gandhi, who was born in South Africa.
The University of the Western Cape's former rector, Professor Stanley Ridge, won the academia award. He commended the movement named after Gülen and said he particularly appreciated its transparency. "The Gülen movement is very transparent and open to everyone. What lies at the foundation of its authenticity is this, too. We have learned that being affectionate means being tolerant to others' differences. I see that word defines the organizers of this night very well," stated Ridge, and added that schools opened worldwide by the members of this movement will contribute much to world civilization.
Turquoise Harmony Institute Director Aydin İnal told reporters after the event that their Peace and Dialogue Awards have encouraged people in the country to forget about what happened in the past and work for the common values of humanity. "As you can see now in this hall, whites and blacks are sitting around the same table and working for dialogue and peace, which is most needed today, to leave a better world for the next generations," he said. The institute will organize a conference on the teachings of Fethullah Gülen in Cape Town on March 13.
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