According to an announcement from the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), IIIT and Turkish publisher Mahya Publications held a summer school in Turkey designed for graduate students primarily from Turkey and its neighboring countries. According to the announcement:
The Sixth IIIT Turkey Summer School (Fifth jointly organised with MAHYA) was officially launched at an Opening Ceremony held at Istanbul University Rectorate Building on 11 July 2019. The Ceremony which marks the start of a programme (11-20th July) drawing speakers from across the world, and postgraduate students from across Turkey and nine other countries, began with recitation of the Qur’an followed by Welcome Remarks given by Sebahattin Ihvan from MAHYA and Hatice Nuriler representing IIIT.
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Mahya Publications is a Turkish publisher of Muslim religious and social commentary books and publishes the work of IIIT authors in Turkish. Although IIIT does not list Mahya as one of its affiliates, they have a joint Twitter account that largely retweets Mahya and IIIT posts, as well as posting information about their joint summer and winter schools.
The announcement credits Dr. Bekir Karliga as being important in fostering the relationship between IIIT and Mahya. Dr. Karliga is the Chairman of the Turkish National Committee of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Initiative (UNAOC). In July 2010, the GMBDW reported that the UNAOC had launched a database of experts in religion and terrorism that listed many individuals either tied to or highly supportive of the Global Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Karliga is also influential in choosing which books Mahya publishes. The announcement also reported that Bekir was presented with a gift by IIIT Trustee Ahmad Totonji, one of the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.
Speakers of interest at the summer school included:
- Anas S. Al-Shaikh-Ali, head of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSSUK), the UK partner organization of IIIT.
- Heba Raouf Ezzat, part of the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE), headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Ramadan
- Ziaüddin Sardar, who was a special advisor to Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia who helped to found IIIT. Sardar was also General Secretary of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), part of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK.
Another prominent speaker was Dr. Necdet Subasi, whose bio states that he has been the President of Strategy Development at the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (DIYANET), and a Chief Advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister.
The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) describes itself as “a private, non-profit, academic, cultural and educational institution, concerned with general issues of Islamic thought and education” and using the slogan “Towards Islamization of Knowledge and Reform of Islamic Thought.” The concept for IIIT was developed at a meeting held in Lugano, Switzerland that was attended by many luminaries of the Global Muslim Brotherhood including Youssef Qaradawi. IIIT was founded in the U.S. in 1980 by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leaders including Iraqi-born Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Altalib who wished to promote the Islamization of Knowledge as conceived by Ismail Al-Faruqi and who were also early leaders of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). A 1991 internal document of the US Muslim Brotherhood, introduced as evidence in the Holy Land Foundation trial, included IIIT in “a list of our organizations and organizations of our friends.”
For more on IIIT, go here.