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Light Millennium Proudly
Presents...
"YUNUS EMRE: TURKISH MEDIEVAL HUMANIST MYSTIC"
A
Presentation with Poetry and Live Music
A
presentation on the great Sufi writer Yunus Emre by Prof.
Dr. Talat HALMAN, First Minister of Culture of the Republic
of Turkey, with Defne HALMAN, Actress
"For
those who truly love God and his ways
All the people of the world are brothers.
We regard no one's religion as contrary to ours,
True love is born when all faiths are united as a whole.
True faith is in the head, not in the headgear."
Date: Wednesday, February
23, 2005
Place: Kidde Building (central
campus)
Kidde
Lecture Hall, 228 Kidde
Stevens
Institute of Technology
Hoboken,
New Jersey
For
location information:
(201)
216-5399
Organized
by: Light Millennium
http://www..lightmillennium.org
For
more information: contact@lightmillennium.org /or
TALISMANED@aol.com
/or figenbingul@lightmillennium.org
PROGRAM
7:00
PM - Reception
7:30 PM - Introduction by Prof. Edward FOSTER
7:40 PM - Prof. Talat HALMAN, First Minister of Culture
of the Republic of
Turkey & Defne HALMAN, Actress
Language: English
Accompanying
Original Music by Jeff PERETZ & ABU GARA
Open
to the public without charge!
*
* * * *
You
are cordially invited to an extraordinary occasion on
"YUNUS EMRE: TURKISH MEDIEVAL HUMANIST MYSTIC: A
POETRY PRESENTATION WITH LIVE MUSIC by Prof. Talat HALMAN,
First Minister of Culture of the Republic of Turkey &
Defne HALMAN, Actress.
Talat
S. Halman, Turkey's first Minister of Culture and the
Turkish-American actress Defne Halman will present a program
with live music provided by Jeff Peretz and his Abu Gara
Ensemble about the great medieval writer YUNUS EMRE (ca.
1238 - 1320).
This
live presentation will convey YUNUS EMRE’s love
for a united humanity, social justice, and universalistic
values. In the late 13th and early 14th century, this
mystic created lyric poems and hymns to celebrate human
and divine love and issued eloquent calls for a world
living in peace
and harmony. In 1991, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary
of his birth, UNESCO declared an International YUNUS EMRE
Year.
The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)
proclaimed 1991 as the "International Yunus Emre
Year." This resolution was adopted or the occasion
of the 750th anniversary of the great Anatolian
poet of the 13th century.
Yunus
Emre was one of the first and most influential Turkish
poets and Sufi philosophers. He was considered to be the
founder of Anatolian Turkish literature and, in that sense,
is compared to Dante in the West. His Sufi approach has
influences many Islamic sects; his hymns have been recited,
chanted and handed down by mouth from one generation to
the next since
late 13th century.
Many
poets who lived after his death borrowed his name and
contributed to the major pool of hymns bearing his name.
There exist numerous biographies and tombs attributed
to him all over Anatolia.
Information
on his life has been derived from events and personalities
cited in his verse. A total of 357 poems have been attributed
to him as a result of literary analyses. Yunus came from
a poor peasant family and was initiated into a mystic
sect of Islam. He is said to have met Mevlana Celaleddin
Rumi, the poet and founder of Mevlevi sect. According
to _Velayetname_ (the Book of the Saints of the Bektasi
order), Yunus was a student of Tapduk Emre, a dervish
who belonged to a school of Turkish intellectuals coming
from Asia in front of the Mongol flood towards Anatolia.
Yunus Emre lived in a most unstable, chaotic period of
Anatolian histyory, a time when the Mongolian invaders
abolished the Anatolian Seljuk State.
Under
these conditions of persistent injustice, robbery and
murder, Yunus Emre advised people to attend to the love
of God, love of people, and love of peace.
Unlike
Mevlana who wrote in Persian, the literary language of
the era, Yunus expressed himself in his native tongue,
Turkish. His language is direct and easy-to-understand,
while his style is rich in Sufi metaphors. His verses
are full of penetrating, humane and enthusiastic feelings
and
ideas.
According to his approach, God and man are the same; everyone
has a piece of God within himself, and only the body dies
and the soul reaches to God, but only if he has loved
mankind and forgiven faults, endured pains and tried to
learn the secrets, the reasons, and the forms of being.
Prof.
Talat Halman is a principal scholar/translator of YUNUS
EMRE's work. In 1971 he published the first English-language
book ever on YUNUS EMRE - - "The Humanist Poetry
of YUNUS EMRE". This work was followed by "YUNUS
EMRE and His Mystical Poetry"(1981) and "YUNUS
EMRE: Selected Poems"(1990). In Turkey he published
a critical book on YUNUS EMRE in 2003. His work relating
to YUNUS EMRE includes dozens of articles in Turkish and
English and numerous major lectures in the United States,
Turkey, Spain, etc.
This
event is co-sponsored by the Turkish Studies Program at
the Stevens Institute of Technology
http://www.stevens.edu/main/home/
and the Light Millennium,
Inc.
"Come,
let us all be friends for once,
Let
us make life easy on us,
Let
us be lovers and loved ones,
The
earth shall be left to no one."
-- by Yunus EMRE
(1241-1320 /or 1321)
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