IRCICA Newsletter, issue 82-83

EDITORIAL
IRCICA Newsletter reaches its readers with two issues
combined together. The frequency of the events we organized
during the Summer and Fall forced us to publish nos. 82 and
83 in a single edition. This was exceptional; its periodicity will
be back to regular in 2011.
The last quarter of 2010 in particular was marked by several
activities resulting from IRCICA’s initiatives taken in different
areas. One of them was the launching of the “1400th Year of
the Revelation of the Holy Qur’an” on the date of 26 Ramadan
1431 H / 5 September 2010 corresponding to the Laylat al-
Qadr. To mark the occasion, we convened an International
Inaugural Conference, which was held under the patronage
and in the presence of H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime
Minister of the Republic of Turkey. We are most honoured by
the support and encouragement that leaders of the Muslim
world have extended to this event. H.E. Maître Abdoulaye
Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal, Chairman of the
11th Islamic Summit Conference, and Chairman of the OIC
Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs
(COMIAC), sent a Message which was received with gratitude
by the conference participants and IRCICA. Two weeks later,
on 11-13 October, the COMIAC held its Ninth Session under
the Chairmanship of H.E. Maître Abdoulaye Wade, in Dakar,
capital of Senegal. During that period I was accorded an
audience by the President in his Office, whereby I presented
him with our recent publications and outlined recent progress
recorded in IRCICA’s activities, in particular, the results and
recommendations of the inaugural conference of the 1400th
Anniversary program.
Since we are covering the latter in detail in this Newsletter, I will
only add here that in this endeavour we aimed to create a joint
forum to respond to the invitation formulated by the OIC’s
Council of Foreign Ministers during its 2010 session held last
May in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) for the Member States and the
OIC subsidiary and affiliated institutions to commemorate this
anniversary during 2010-2011 with all means. The inaugural
conference succeeded in paving the way for the Member States’
and concerned to contribute towards conducting a beneficial
and efficient commemoration program. We gave importance to
inviting to this event Muslims’ unions and associations based
outside the Member States. Furthermore, as underlined by
IRCICA and by the participants, the Year’s activities also aim
to address a global audience including non-Muslims: to make
the Holy Qur’an understood correctly and carry its message
across peoples and cultures.
During the period under review our Centre has implemented
a variety of congresses and seminars dealing with history of
international relations, history of civilization, science and
culture, including the congresses on Islamic Civilization in
the Balkans and in Volga-Ural region which were held in
Macedonia and Bashkortostan respectively, the congress
on Islamic Civilisation in the Mediterranean which was
held in Turkish Cypriot State, the congress on Arab-Turkish
relations, and congresses about specific themes of history that
are of relevance for Muslim world history such as the joint
UNESCO-IRCICA seminar on “Turkish-African Relations:
Past Routes, Reciprocal Emigration and Present Heritage” and
the conference on the 1864 Caucasian Migration. On history
of science, the congress on Astronomers in Islam brought out
interesting contributions.
In the context of our activities in the area of Islamic arts, in
November we coordinated the finalization of another series of
training courses in the art of calligraphy involving its different
writing styles. The Governing Board of IRCICA devoted part
of the opening ceremony of its 25th session convened at the
Centre, to the presentation of calligraphy diplomas (Ijaza)
by the calligraphy masters to the trainees having successfully
completed their courses. I would like to record with pleasure
that as of today, 71 calligraphers from 23 countries – from within
and outside the Muslim world – have received calligraphy
diplomas through the programs IRCICA coordinated over the
years. This program, together with the calligraphy competitions
IRCICA organises once every three years, produced tangible
results: a number of calligraphers having received awards in
competitions and / or Ijaza in the past programs have become
recognized calligraphers and are teaching calligraphy. These
developments indicate the enlargement of interest in Islamic
calligraphy world-wide.
The 25th session of the Governing Board of IRCICA, a body
composed of ten scholarly and cultural personalities elected
from the Member States, has approved our work program
proposed for 2011 which will next be submitted to the 12th
Islamic Summit Conference to be held mid-March 2011 in
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. I would like to conclude thanking all
institutions and individuals from around the world who are
following and participating in our activities. Their interest has
always been a source of encouragement for us.
Dr. Halit Eren