Rumi Forum Podcast

This human rights organization is proudly carrying on the unique legacy of the late Congressman Tom Lantos who, as the only survivor of the Holocaust ever elected to Congress, was one of our nation’s most eloquent and forceful leaders on behalf of human rights and justice. In addition to managing the Lantos Foundation, Dr. Lantos Swett teaches human rights and American foreign policy at Tufts University. She also taught at the University of Southern Denmark while her husband, former Congressman Richard Swett, was serving as the U.S. Ambassador in Copenhagen.

Her varied professional experiences include working on Capitol Hill as Deputy Counsel to the Criminal Justice Sub-Committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee for then Senator Joe Biden and as a consultant to businesses, charitable foundations, and political campaigns.

Dr. Lantos Swett also has experience in broadcasting, having co-hosted the highly regarded political talk show ”Beyond Politics” for many years on WMUR TV, New Hampshire’s only network affiliated television station. As co-host, she interviewed state, national, and international figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Members of the United States Congress, and George Stephanopoulos on the issues of the day.

From 2003-2006 Dr. Lantos Swett served as the Director of the Graduate program in Public Policy at New England College, where she now serves on the college’s Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Board of HRNK Human Rights in North Korea and the Tom Lantos Institute in Budapest. She has served on numerous Boards in the past, including the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium Foundation, the Institute for Justice Sector Development, the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling (co-Chair), and the NH Citizen’s Commission on the State Courts. She has also been active in Democratic politics for over three decades. In 2002, she was the Democratic nominee for Congress in New Hampshire’s 2ndDistrict, and she was chosen as a Presidential elector in 1992. She has been a member of the New Hampshire Democratic Party (NHDP) Executive Committee and served as Vice-Chair of the NHDP Finance Committee.

Under Dr. Lantos Swett’s leadership as President and CEO, the Lantos Foundation has quickly become a distinguished and respected voice on many key human rights concerns ranging from rule of law in Russia and Internet freedom in closed societies to the on-going threat of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. The Foundation also supports human rights defenders around the globe through its Front Line Fund and runs the Lantos Congressional Fellows program in conjunction with Humanity in Action. Each year the Lantos Foundation awards the Lantos Human Rights Prize to an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to standing up for decency, dignity, freedom, and justice. Past recipients have included His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Elie Wiesel, and Paul Rusesabagina.

Dr. Lantos Swett graduated from Yale University in 1974 at the age of 18 and earned her Juris Doctor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1976. She received her Ph.D. in History from the University of Southern Denmark in 2001. Dr. Lantos Swett has been married for 31 years to former Congressman and Ambassador Richard Swett and they are parents of 7 children and 2 grandchildren. She resides in Bow, New Hampshire.

Fethullah Gülen is a moderate Turkish Muslim scholar who is known mostly for his education and dialogue activities. The Hizmet Movement, inspired by Gülen, has established hundreds of education and dialogue institutions throughout the world. Several books and hundreds of articles and news reports have been written about Gülen himself and the movement. In recent years, a defamation campaign has been launched against Gülen and the Hizmet Movement. Although these defamation articles may seem random, this book shows that the articles are written strategically in a campaign manner. In Strategic Defamation of Fethullah Gülen, close to 500 defamation articles, books, and other forms of writings are analyzed according to their languages. Koç concludes that these defamations differ from each other and appear according to their respective audiences.

Dogan Koc is the executive director of the Gulen Institute at the University of Houston. Before his work at the institute, Dr. Koc worked at the Cairo University as a visiting scholar, and taught at the Austin College in Sherman, TX. He received his PhD degree in Political Science from the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Koc also holds degrees in chemistry, education, and sociology. In his studies, he focuses on conflict resolution, international relations, and social movements. He conducted one of the first and most extensive quantitative researches on Turkey's Kurdish conflict, in which he analyzes the strategies of military, government and civil society applied in the resolution of the conflict. He is also the author of the recent book "Strategic Defamation of Fethullah Gulen: Turkish vs. English."

Energy resources are increasingly shaping politics in Eurasia. Turkey is mending fences with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq to satisfy its skyrocketing internal demand. New gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean are already having a profound effect on the region’s intricate political relations.  The Southern Gas Corridor has the potential to reshape Central and South Eastern Europe’s energy landscape by bringing gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. Shale gas can turn nations hitherto entirely dependent on import into energy producers. How can energy be turned into a force for good instead of bitter rivalry and renewed tensions? How can the risk of conflict be minimized and the incentives for regional cooperation maximized? What role can the countries and the region, the United States, the European Union and Russia play?

Join journalist Yigal Schleifer as he discusses his adventures exploring the culinary backstreets of Istanbul and the city's traditional and authentic food scene. The co-author of "Istanbul Eats," an award-winning blog and best-selling guidebook to eating in Istanbul, Schleifer will discuss what makes Istanbul such a unique culinary destination and what Istanbul's culinary traditions tell us about the city's rich history.

Join journalist Yigal Schleifer as he discusses his adventures exploring the culinary backstreets of Istanbul and the city's traditional and authentic food scene. The co-author of "Istanbul Eats," an award-winning blog and best-selling guidebook to eating in Istanbul, Schleifer will discuss what makes Istanbul such a unique culinary destination and what Istanbul's culinary traditions tell us about the city's rich history.

Yigal Schleifer is a Washington-based journalist and analyst covering Turkey. He is also the co-founder of "Istanbul Eats," a blog covering Istanbul's authentic dining scene and the author of "The Turko-File," a blog about Turkish foreign and domestic affairs on Eurasianet.org. He was based in Istanbul between 2002 and 2010, where he worked as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and the English-language service of the German Press Agency (DPA).

The Supreme Mufti was born on 15 September 1947, on the Kyibyshev collective farm in the Tiulkubassky District of the Yuzhno-Kazakhstanskaya region. In 1969, he graduated with distinction from the MO Auezov Yuzhno-Kazakhstansky State University. In 1975, Abdsattar Hadji Derbissali underwent postgraduate training at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Upon completion of his postgraduate studies, Derbissali began an internship at the Muhammad V Royal University (Morocco, 1975-1976) and later became a research scientist of the Institute of Literature and Arts of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan (1976-1977). He has worked as a teacher, senior teacher, assistant pro¬fessor, and vice-dean of the philological department at KazGU (1977-1985) as well as founder and supervisor of the chair of Oriental and Arabian philology at KazGU (1984-1997). Derbissali worked as an intern of the Az-Zaitun University (Tunisia, 1985-1986) and con¬ducted doctoral studies at the Institute of the Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1986-1988). In 1988, Derbissali was earned his Doctor of Letters degree and served as professor and fellow of the Academy of Sciences of the Higher School of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1996). Since 1990, Derbissali served as vice-President, and later Presi¬dent, of the Association of the Kazakh-Arabian Friendship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

This talk will introduce the newly created Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) at George Mason University.

The mission of the IIR is to refocus the immigration conversation among academic, policy-makers and the public by producing and disseminating unbiased and objective, interdisciplinary academic research related to immigrants and immigration to the United States. The talk will review initial findings summarizing the geographic dispersion and occupational concentration of immigrants based on U.S. Census data. Special attention will be paid to U.S. workers born in Turkey and other countries with large Turkic populations.

James Witte is Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Social Science Research at George Mason University. Witte, who earned his PhD from Harvard in 1991, has been a professor at Clemson University and Northwestern University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Carolina Population Center and a lecturer in sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Witte's ongoing research focuses on ways to use the world wide web to collect survey data, the similarities and differences between online and off-line societies and the economic contributions of U.S. immigrants..

Dr. Brian Grim, lead researcher and author of a new Pew Forum Report, will discuss the “Rising Tide of Religious Restrictions around the World”. Even before the recent turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa – including attacks on U.S. embassies and the killing of an American ambassador – the region was experiencing increasing hostilities and tensions involving religion. A new report by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that as of mid-2010 – six months before the outbreak of events that would become known as the Arab Spring – the Middle East-North Africa had by far the world’s highest levels of social hostilities involving religion as well as government restrictions on religious beliefs and practices.

F. Stephen Larrabee (USA) is a Senior Staff member at RAND in Washington, D.C. and holds the RAND Corporate Chair in European Security. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University and has taught at Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Georgetown University, George Washington University and the University of Southern California. Before joining RAND he served as Vice President and Director of Studies of the Institute of East-West Security Studies in New York from 1983-1989 and was a distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Institute from 1989-1990. From 1978-1981 Dr. Larrabee served on the U.S. National Security Council staff in the White House as a specialist on Soviet-East European affairs and East-West political-military relations.

His articles include, “Turkey’s Kurdish Challenge,” co-author with Gonul Tol (Survival, August/September 2011); “Ukraine at the Crossroads” (Washington Quarterly, Fall 2007); “Turkey Rediscovers the Middle East” (Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007); and “Danger and Opportunity in Eastern Europe” (Foreign Affairs, November/December 2006). Other recent publications include, Troubled Partnership: U.S.-Turkish Relations in an Era of Global Geopolitical Change; NATO’s Eastern Agenda in a New Strategic Era; co-author with Ian Lesser of Turkish Foreign Policy in an Age of Uncertainty; co-editor with Zalmay Khalilzad and Ian O. Lesser of The Future of Turkish-Western Relations; co-editor (with David Gompert) of America and Europe: A Partnership for a New Era (1997), author of East European Security After the Cold War (1994), editor of The Volatile Powder Keg: Balkan Security After the Cold War (1994), co-editor (with Robert Blackwill) of Conventional Arms Control and East-West Security (1989) and editor of The Two German States and European Security (1989).

Zoran Jolevski, born July 16, 1959 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, married (Mrs. Suzana Jolevska), father of 2 children (two sons, Pero - 1988 and Filip Jolevski -1992)

Professor Zoran Jolevski was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the United States in March 2007. In November 2008, he also has been appointed the Macedonian Government's chief negotiator on name differences with Greece under the auspices of the United Nations. Ambassador Jolevski is professor at the European University, in Skopje, Macedonia.

From 2000 to 2004, Ambassador Jolevski was Chief of Staff to the late Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, and served as the Chief Adviser to the Macedonian Government on Macedonia's World Trade Organization accession. He has served in various other capacities with the Macedonian Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He was the Chief of Party to the Macedonian Business Environment Activity, and from 2004 to 2006 the Chief of Party to the World Trade Organization Compliance Activity. Both of these were USAID funded projects, and operated by Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading US consulting firm.

Ambassador Jolevski founded and has been the first President of the Institute for Economic Strategies and International Affairs – “Ohrid”, he served also as a President of “The Boris Trajkovski International Foundation” from 2004 to 2005. Prior to his appointment as ambassador he was member of the Boards of number of companies. He also was Vice Chairman of the UN/ECE Committee on Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development (2005-2007), as well as a Member of Team of Specialists on Internet Enterprise Development at UN/ECE (1999-2003)

Ambasador Jolevski holds a Ph.D. in International Economy from the Faculty of Economy, as well as a Master of Science in International Trade Law. He is the author of two books and more than a hundred articles as well as editor of several books.

Zoran Jolevski married Suzana Jolevska and they have two sons: Pero (1988) and Filip Jolevski (1992).