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Dr. Y. Z. Kavakci, building bridges of Understanding

Dr. Yusuf Kavakci visited Romania’s Dobrogea area at the invitation of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, as part of their Muslim engagement program and at the initiative of the local Romanian mufti. During meetings with members of youth organizations from the Democratic Unions of the Turks and Tatars in Romania (UDTR and UDTTMR), Dr. Kavakci, a Turkish immigrant to America, answered questions (in Turkish) on important topics such as the relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims and the ways in which non-Muslim cultural habits and values are part of diverse societies. Dr. Kavakci also spoke at a major interfaith symposium on the role of religion in modern society, which drew an audience of 150, including leading religious leaders, academics and students from the Theology and Law Departments of the Ovidius University in Constanta. He discussed how Islam is practiced in America by Muslim youth and answered audience questions on suicide, extremism, and theological issues in Islam. Dr. Kavakci had the opportunity, on the last day of his visit, to meet with the two Muslim deputies who represent the Turkish and the Tatar communities in the Romanian parliament and learn about the initiatives geared toward the Muslim communities, including the Tatar Deputy's unique achievement of the official recognition of December 13 as Romanian Tatars' Day.