Rumi Forum hosted guests from Truman National Security
Project along with Turkish-American community leaders for Ramadan Iftar on 26th
June, 2015. President for Center for National Policy, Scott Bates, delivered a
short speech, followed by Truman Fellows Joshua Walker and Jen
Nedua.
President Scott Bates addressed the
attendees of the Ramadan dinner, delivering a short message on the power
of believing in hope and ultimate justice. “The arc of history bends slowly to
justice”, he said, echoing the words of Martin Luther King. Despite the deep
tragedies and sorrows of our time, in the United States and elsewhere in the
world, there are always new opportunities for healing and new birth of freedom
for our nations.
Truman Fellow Joshua Walker touched upon the value of
loyalty and friendship in the relationship between America and Turkey. Despite
the “difficult” friendship, he considers Turkey their closest allies and puts his
faith and hope in continuing a healthy partnership with the Turkish people at
large. Citing his love for Turkish culture and hospitality and Ramadan as one
of his favorite holiday periods, he says, “To just be embraced regardless of
peoples’ political views - this shows us the real future of the relationship. Its’
going to be done by people like us, by future leaders, who can look past
political differences, challenges of the situation, difficulties of geography
and the bridging of worlds by doing it one person at a time, one meal at a
time.”
Mr. Walker advises friends of Turkey to be both critical and
skeptical of the euphoria and also skeptical and cautious of extreme pessimism,
when dealing with news of the ever-changing political landscape of the country.
The history of all countries has been to take one step forward and two steps
back, and so it is with Turkey. He believes that the senseless violence
pervading the Middle East, the ongoing conflicting wars in Syria and Iraq, the
tendency towards authoritarianism in the region can only be countered when
diverse groups of people come together to engage in dialogue and discussion.
Even though the volatile political period in Turkey promises a difficult road
ahead, it is a struggle that can be overcome if embracing diversity is marked
as the way to move forward.
“Thinking about the future and where we go as a progressive
community focused on national security, we have to speak to our own populations…Just
like many of us in this [American] community, we don’t fit into a nice box.”
Mr. Walker emphasizes the problem of categorizing people into boxes, instead
urging the U.S. government and Turkey to move beyond bigotry and myopic visions
and learn how to broaden perspectives and adapt to each other. Turkey’s great
challenge in the current period is to move towards a truly people’s driven
democracy. In a world that is deeply interconnected, Mr. Walker believes it is
America’s responsibility to “reach out and be our brothers’ keepers” across the
waters.