DUSHANBE, August 4, 2008, Asia-Plus — Chairman of the Social-Democratic Party (SDPT), Rahmatillo Zoirov, on August 3 from Istanbul, where he had attended an international conference on security, radicalism and extremism problems.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Zoirov said that Istanbul Bilgi University hosted the conference, formally titled “Problems of Security, Radicalism and Extremism”, on July 28-29.
According to him, the issue of so-called Islamic extremism and radicalism caused lively discussions.
“Experts from Western Europe have had only scientific-theoretical idea of notions such as “radicalism” and “extremism,” said Zoirov, “They were arguing that this issue of significant importance. However, no one of European experts that attended the conference was able to comment upon these notions.”
He also noted that Western experts’ ideas of “Islamic radicalism and extremism” are not well-founded and do not reflect the reality.
Istanbul Bilgi University was founded in 1996 as a private, non-profit institution and functions under the aegis of the Turkish Higher Education Council. With nearly 10,000 students and a faculty of 615, BİLGİ offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the social sciences, economics, business, communications, the arts and law. The language of instruction, except in the Law Faculty, is English.
BİLGİ is a city university with innovative campuses located in central city neighborhoods, offering easy access to the social and cultural activities in Istanbul. BİLGİ campuses and dormitories have modern facilities, equipped to provide for all the academic and extracurricular needs of students.
