Harun Celik
Disciple of Fetullah Gulen
Hampden Charter School of Science – President
20 Johnson rd. Chicopee, MA 01022
Turkish Cultural Council
UMass RUMI Club
Dilyara Celik, 26, of Chicopee, is director of the women’s association of the Turkish Cultural Center of Western Massachusetts in West Springfield, and a senior at Westfield State University.
She was born in west central Russia, in the city of Kazan, which, she says, is “very famous for the peace and harmony among religions and cultures.”
She has lived in the United Sates for eight years.
It has been almost three years since I live in this area. I moved from New Jersey and I have had only a good experience here in the Pioneer Valley.
“On one side, the center plays an important role in facilitating Turkish immigrants’ integration to American culture. On the other side, the center introduces, promotes and informs Turkish history and culture to Americans by bringing people together in an open-dialogue environment. It is the very culture of Turkish people to exercise sharing, loving and caring within the community. For such activities to take place, we feel that the cultural center is essential.”
“An essential teaching of Islam is to love the created for the sake of the creator without discrimination.”
She estimated there are about 3,000 people of Turkish descent in
Western Massachusetts.
“As Muslim Turkish-Americans, we are very comfortable living in Western Mass.,” said Celik, who was born in Kazan, in west central Russia and lived in New Jersey before moving here four years ago. “We have not experienced any discrimination so far, nor do we expect to face any. We enjoy the religious freedoms of this great country.”
A Chicopee resident, she said Islam is the religion of peace, love and dignity. “We denounce all types of discrimination including racist or religious ones,” she said of her Western Massachusetts Turkish community.
The literal meaning of Islam is “submission’ to Allah”, she explained.
“Unfortunately, in the recent years, Islam is associated with terrorism. As Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Muslim-Turkish scholar stated after the tragic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, ‘A Muslim cannot be a terrorist and a terrorist cannot be a Muslim.’”