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May 09, 2005
Festival is chance for Turks to educate about their culture
By PRASHANT GOPAL
northjersey.com
TEANECK - A new cultural association wants to educate North Jerseyans about Turkish culture and history and correct those who mistake Turkey for a fundamentalist nation.
Turkey is, in fact, a secular Muslim country that, for more than 80 years, has been a democracy based on the principle of separation of church and state.
On Sunday, the year-old Hudson Turkish American Cultural Association put on its second annual festival at Fairleigh Dickinson University. |The 400-member organization will soon open a 4,000-square-foot cultural center in Ridgefield, where it |will offer Turkish cooking classes |and English and Turkish language lessons.
"Our goal is to represent the whole Turkish community in New Jersey and form a bridge with other organizations," said Guvene Kulen of Palisades Park, the group's president. "We believe enemies in the world become enemies because they don't know each other. We believe there's a lot of misunderstanding about Turks and Islam, our religion."
The group is organizing a trip to Turkey this month for 25 non-Turkish Americans. The idea is to give the travelers a taste of Turkey's diversity and tolerance, Kulen said. The itinerary includes visits with Jewish and Christian leaders, he said.
The trip was organized, in part, in response to the recent portrayal of Turks as fundamentalists and terrorists in two American television programs, NBC's "The West Wing" and Fox's "24."
An episode of the "West Wing," for instance, depicted Turkey as a country that beheaded women who commit adultery.
Elshan Gasimov, 20, a Turk from Azerbaijan who moved to the United States last year, said Americans know very little about his culture.
"When I came here, I got |a lot of strange questions," Gasimov said. "Someone asked me, 'Do you guys have cars?'Ÿ"
But Arzu Karagulle, a 21-year-old Manhattan College student who moved to West New York from Turkey 2½ years ago, says she got a much different reaction.
"They say they want to come to Turkey and they'd love to learn about our culture," Karagulle said.
Sunday's festival featured a large spread of Turkish dishes, carpets, books and crafts.
Lucia and Kevin Brown of Maplewood brought along their 2-year-old son, Andrew. The Browns aren't Turkish, but Lucia Brown lived in Turkey for a few years as a child.
"It's part of me," Lucia Brown said, looking down at her son. "I want it to be part of him as well."
Posted by Jo at May 9, 2005 06:36 PM