Iranian tourists

There is rejoicing in our Antalya and Van provinces, where one Iranian plane lands after the other. Tourists are pouring in like rain. As the ones who arrive are from wealthy segments, they do a lot of shopping. 

This does not compensate the lack of Western tourists, but this of course is good. 

We should immediately stop the quarrel we have been conducting with the West and move the disputes into diplomatic channels and negotiation rooms. Fighting through the media not only escalates the crisis, it also negatively affects Turkey's image in the eyes of the Western public and harms tourism. 

Iranian tourists, instead of Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries, primarily chose to come to Turkey. 

They are most welcome. First of all, Turkey is a more modern society compared with other Muslim countries and countries in the region. Women feel freer here. Many Iranians speak Turkish. 

Iran is a great and old civilization. We, as we proceeded from Central Asia, have adopted certain rooted institutions and concepts from Iran and brought them to Anatolia. We have amalgamated the Seljuk civilization. Anybody who has not seen Tabriz, Esfahan and Shiraz lacks vision of history and civilization. I want to move on to the "Islamic civilization" concept from here. 

Kemal Öztürk, a distinguished writer from the daily Yeni Şafak, said what was needed was not the making of technical or material values, but new human values. He explained the situation of today's Islamic societies and said a civilization cannot be formed from this material. 

He has emphasized that Islam could be an alternative for our age but for this, "Islam has to be reinterpreted with contemporary issues taken into consideration."