A senior four-member delegation from ILKE foundation for science culture and education conducted a visit to different cities of England and visited several civil society institutions, universities and research centres and met with their senior management to evaluate, discuss and realise possibilities of networking and mutual collaboration. The delegation included ILKE’s Chairman of Executive Board Prof. Dr. Lutfi Sunar, Chairman of Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Nihat Erdoğmuş, ex-Chairman of the Board of Trustees Davut Sanver and the International Outreach Executive Ahsan Shafiq. The weeklong visit commenced on Friday, February 04 2022 from London. 

Religious Centres, Research Centres and NGOs

On Friday, February 04 the ILKE delegation visited London Muslim Centre and met with the senior management of Radiant Trust including its founding Chairman Cemal Yavuz. Managing Director of Cordoba Foundation UK Dr Abdullah Faliq was also present at this meeting. On Monday morning February 07, 2022, the delegation was hosted at Grays Inn by Forward Thinking institute that works to promote a more inclusive peace process in the Middle East and the MENA region. The institute was represented by its founding director Oliver McTernan and his team including Julian Weinberg, Jordan Morgan and Maisie Cook. Later the same day a meeting to realize collaboration between ILKE and Cordoba foundation was held at the London Muslim Centre. Dr. Anas Tikriti, the chairman of Cordoba foundation and its managing director Dr. Abdullah Faliq represented the foundation. On the evening of Monday, a grand reception and dinner was arranged by East London Mosque, Cordoba Foundation and Maryam Centre in the honour of the visiting delegates where leaders of Muslim organizations in England were also invited. Over 35 Muslim leaders from different organisations of UK including ELM, LMC, Cordoba foundation, MCB, MAB, UKIM, ICMG and others graced the occasion and a thoughtful discussion was held where the challenges facing Muslim Ummah and Turkey’s role in coping with them was discussed.

On Wednesday February 09, the delegation also visited Al Furqan Heritage Foundation, a foundation that works for preservation of the Islamic heritage and met with its chairman Sali Shahsivari and his team. Later the same day the delegation also Yunus Emre’s office in London to learn about their activities.

On Friday, February 11, 2022, Ahsan Shafiq, the international outreach executive visited Islamic Foundation, Markfield Institute and Kube Publishing on behalf of ILKE Foundation. He met with Dr. Muhammad Manazir Ahsan, Chairman Islamic Foundation and its director general Farooq Murad.

Educational Institutions

The four-member delegation visited Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at University of Oxford on Tuesday February 08, 2022 and met with its Director Prof. Dr. Farhan Nizami. The delegation also separately met with Dr. Adeel Malik and Dr. Mohammad Talib at the same centre. Ahsan Shafiq separately visited Markfield Institute for Higher Education on February 11, 2022 and met with its senior management where the both sides exchanged view about the possibility of joint courses, certificates and programs. The meetings were held in a good environment where ILKE’s delegation briefed the hosts about the foundation’s activities ranging from education and training to research and publication. The host institutions showed keen interest in ILKE’s activities and expressed their willingness for conducting joint projects with ILKE in future.

Individual Visits & Interviews

The delegation from ILKE also paid visits to several known scholars, academicians and to media centres. On Tuesday February 08, 2022 the delegates were hosted at a dinner reception by known scholar Dr. Basil Mustafa at his residence in Oxford where the delegates also met famous Muslim scholar Sheikh Akram Nadwi. On Friday February 11, 2022 Ahsan Shafiq on behalf of the foundation paid a visit to pioneer economist and author Prof. Dr. Khurshid Ahmad at his residence in Markfield. Famous channel of Muslim community in UK, Islam Channel UK also invited the delegation and interviewed Prof. Nihat Erdogmus to discuss the leadership challenges faced by Muslims in Turkey and abroad.

The week-long visit was an important opportunity for ILKE to extend its network abroad, apprise the British civil society organizations about the work its doing in the Turkish society and explore venues of mutual collaboration with them. All the meetings took place in a pleasant environment and several understandings were reached with different organizations during this memorable trip.