Prof. Mehmet Gormez gives a conference in Komotini

Former President of Religious Affairs of Turkey Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez is visiting Western Thrace. Görmez first came to Komotini on Friday, 14 June. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez gave a conference at Komotini Turkish Youth Union.

The conference attracted great interest of the cognates, especially the religious officials. Firstly, İbrahim Şerif, Mufti of Komotini, gave information about the background of Prof.Dr Mehmet Görmez. Mufti Şerif expressed his pleasure to host Prof. Mehmet Görmez in Western Thrace and thanked him for his visit.

Then Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez, former President of Religious Affairs of Türkiye, took the floor.

Touching upon the importance of Eid al-Adha in his speech, Mehmet Görmez emphasised that the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace should protect its identity, culture and values.

Reminding that he was visiting Western Thrace for the fourth time, Görmez said: "I am very pleased to be here with you. We have such a bond that knows no borders. There is a great faith, a great belief, a great history, a great civilisation and a great culture that bind us together. I hope this unity of ours will continue until doomsday."

Explaining the perspective of Islamic civilisation towards minorities, Görmez said
"Our civilisation did not express the minorities living within itself in numbers. It did not name non-Muslims living with us as minorities. The Ottoman Empire introduced the millet system and gave the name of millet (nation) even to people living in very small numbers. Today, there have been great changes in the modern world. One out of every three Muslims has become a minority. Today, there are about 2 billion Muslims in the world and one third of them live as minorities."

Referring to the atrocities in Palestine, Görmez said, "The biggest genocide in history is taking place in Palestine. Almost two thirds of our brothers and sisters here live as refugees all over the world."

Speaking about the concept of identity in his speech, Prof. Görmez continued his words as follows:
"Identity takes us to civilisation. Moreover, as a Muslim identity, it takes us to Muhammad Mustafa. The issue of identity stands on two pillars. One is religion and one is language. Those who lose their religion lose their language, those who lose their language lose their culture, those who lose their culture lose their history and civilisation. Therefore, in order to live here with your own identity until the morning of judgement, you need to learn your faith and belief correctly. Because language is the home of culture, history and religion."