Grand Bazaar is a small town in itself, with miles of pasSağ eways, mosques, banks, police stations, restaurants—and ~4000 shops. It is a very historical site, built by the Ottomans and is the largest number of shops in a shopping centre found anywhere in the World. All the shops have traditional bazaar authenticity about them.

Along with our tour partners in Turkey – PASIAD (Asia-Pacific Social & Economic Solidarity Foundation), our touring party visited the Istanbul Major City Deputy Lord Mayor, Mr Ahmet Selamat, gave us a brief description of Istanbul and its 39 Council regions across Istanbul.

We visited two of these colleges in our 7 day stay in Turkey: - Cemberlitas FEM College in Istanbul: We met His Eminence Mr Mehmet Ali Sengul from the Gülen movement who inspired us with his great words of wisdom. - Buyukkoyuncu Private College in Konya, where a Whirling Derwish presentation was conducted by students from the College.

The Writers & Journalists Foundation formed in 1994, this foundation’s main focus is to conduct dialogue initiatives in a country which is 98% Muslim amongst the minority groups in Turkey, such as Greek, Armenian, Assyrian Orthodox Churches, Alawi groups etc. The organisation was a frontier in creating positive social changes for minorities in Turkey. The organisation also focuses on Sunni/Shiite relations and building relations with the Kurdish community. The forming of this organisation has led to the creation of other similar interfaith and intercultural foundations in other parts of the World.

Visit to the house in which Archbishop Angelo Roncalli – later John XXIII – lived while Papal Nuncio to Turkey prior to and during the Second World War. This house had direct significance for us on this pilgrimage. It is said that it was in this house – which is still used for the Papal Nuncio in Turkey (currently Archbishop Antonio Lucibello) – that Roncalli developed the idea of a new ecumenical council. Later, this idea came to a reality when Roncalli was elected Pope. It is directly because of that Council’s statement on the relation of the Church to other religions (Nostra Aetate 1965) that a pilgrimage such as ours has become a possibility more than sixty years later.

The Chorepiscopus and his wife have lived in Istanbul for 46 years. He ushered us into a very formal meeting room (Vatican style) which had one wall full of floral tributes that had been sent to the Assyrians for Easter – mostly (and he made a big point of this) from Muslim organisations in the City. His sense of humour was extremely entertaining and his welcome was very warm. His Eminence, Yusuf Sağ, talked to us about the importance of dialogue and of the importance of Easter. He spoke of Fethullah Gülen with great admiration for his work.

Fatih University teaches subjects in Engineering, Sciences and the Arts. It has become one of the most popular universities, particularly to overseas students.

One of the most popular poets among Western readers today is a poet from the 13th century, Rumi. Rumi still inspires many with his works. Rumi came from the tradition of mystical Islam. One of its better known features is the whirling dervishes whose swirling dance is aimed at creating a sense of transcendence. Visiting the Tomb of Rumi as part of our joint pilgrimage is not only significant for Muslim’s, but also very important to many people in the West. The famous saying of Rumi continue to inspire people centuries later;

Academia’s focus is to publish books on various Islamic and contemporary issues facing the World today. A lot of the thoughts of Gülen are also published here by many scholars.

The Turkish Religious Affairs Ministry Deputy Mufti, Mr Mehmet Asik, was also visited. The Religious Affairs Ministry of Turkey provides trained and College educated Imam’s to head up many of the Mosque’s in Turkey. It also provides University educated Imam’s to conduct theological research including producing many Islamic publications and to perform sermons at Mosque’s during the Friday and Eid Festival prayers.

STV TV station is one of the most popular watched TV stations in Turkey. There are now 6 TV stations that have sprung from this initial one, with a BBC type news channel, a religious channel and a channel broadcast in English in the USA called Ebru TV.

Rome, like Istanbul, is an Open Air Museum, with so many historical buildings to see. From The Forum, the Colliseum, Piazza, The Pantheon, Piazza Navona, The Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps to the Vatican City itself with St Peter’s Basilica, there is so much history through the streets of Imperial Rome.

The Hon Tim Fischer hosted the touring party in a reception at the Australian Embassy to the Vatican’s residence. As you would all know Mr Fischer was the former Nationals Leader

and Deputy PM of Australia during the Howard government. There were many dignitaries at the reception including the Turkish Ambassador to the Holy See, Mr Muammer Dogan Akdur, Protestant and Catholic Clerical leaders and the Director of English and Italian Programming for the Vatican Radio, Mr Sean-Patrick Lovett.

We were received by Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, who was the Head Officer for Islam in the Pontifical Council. He gave us a rundown of the works undertaken by the Council and the relations it has with people of other faiths, particularly Islam.

The group attended the weekly Papal Mass at St Peters Square. The Pope and the audience were notified of our Muslim-Christian group’s presence and the fact that we were making an interfaith pilgrimage to the Vatican, which was a pioneering achievement.

We attended the Gregorian University and attended the Study of Religions & Culture Department under the leadership of Jesuit leader Felix Korner. This was the Institute where Bishop Prowse had studied in Rome many years back.

Fr Miguel Ayuso gave us a very good run down of the Institute for Arabic & Islamic studies. He informed us that the Institute currently has 55 students with 25 Professors. There are 37,000 books in Arabic and Islamic Studies. The Institute published a book in 1975 called “Islamachristiana”. Version 34 of this book was published this year. They also published a second book called “Ecumenism in Islam” and a 3rd book is out soon as well.

The Istituto Tevere is an intercultural centre established by the Gülen movement in Rome. His Eminence Abdullah Aymaz, Gülen movement coordinator for Europe and Mustafa Cenap Aydin, Coordinator for the Tevere Institute, gave us a quick rundown of the Centre and answered many questions from the touring party. Afterwards, they brought us all to the finest restaurant in Rome for dinner.

Visited the Town of Assisi, which is 2 hours north of Rome. We visited the St Mary of the Angels, Basilica of St Francis and the Basilica of S. Chiara. We also walked through the medieval city with its original streets and houses.

We attended The Great Mosque in Rome to allow for the Muslim participants to attend the regular Friday prayers. The Mosque would have had around 3,000 people attending the Friday prayer that day. It was a wonderful Mosque built and paid for by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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