Let me start by saying, TAXI DRIVERS IN ISTANBUL ARE CRAZY!!! The one who took me back to the hotel just now did 80 in a crowded pedestrian area!
(The legendary Brother Faruqi is sitting next to me as I type this blog entry(!), so I have to behave)
Now that that’s off my chest, I should say that I arrived in Istanbul airport midnight last night. It was a very good flight. This trip is to attend a formal meeting of Islamic movement leaders from around the world organised by ESAM (Economic and Social Research Centre), the think tank of Erbakan’s Saadet Party. So, in other words, if last month I attended an event organised American conservatives, this time I am attending a meeting of Muslim conservatives.
I am here as part of the PAS delegation, which initially was supposed to be a total of five people. But, due to the situations in Malaysia, only YB TG Dato Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and YB Dr Dzulkifly Ahmad are here. They arrived before me.
The host – ESAM – went all out to honour their guests. To start with, as soon as the flight door opened, Mustafa Kaya, Deputy President of Saadet in Istanbul was already waiting. So, from the flight, straight to the VIP lounge, and then to Turquhouse Hotel in Eyup, all within a relatively very short time. I am in the same room with Dr Dzul for the next few days. So that will give us a good chance to catch up.
The International Muslim Communities Union Congress is an annual conference organised by ESAM. This year is the 17th conference. It’s a great opportunity to rub shoulders with the great and the good of the international Islamic movements from many countries including Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, etc. But the memorable one is when I got the chance to talk to Recai Kutan, leader of Saadet and head of ESAM.
Ustaz Hadi spoke at the opening session this morning. And the discussion session was good. The official report can be seen here in Turkish. I know the picture in the report is very small, but the photographer caught me getting up from my seat on right hand side of the picture. And, if you scroll down the report, you will see that they call me “Malezya İslam Partisi İngiltere Temsilcisi Wansaıful Wanjan”. I have no idea what that means, but I hope it is good!
And these are two more snaps from the first day of the conference.
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