In cooperation with Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue, Fellowship of Faiths & Cultures Club of ASU organized its 1st Thanksgiving Dinner on  Monday, November 23rd, 2009 .. ASU . Almost  100 of  people from different backgrounds such as ...ASU faculties , students..... attended to dinner.  read more »

The Annual Dialogue & Friendship Dinners host distinguished guests representing various religious and cultural establishments and community members interested in dialogue. In addition to the presentations by guest speakers, the round table discussions provide a unique opportunity to share our experiences and learn from each other.  read more »

The Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue (FID) extended its dialogue and friendship dinners to Flagstaff in November 2008. The first dinner in this town of Northern Arizona was organized at High Country Conference Center in the Flagstaff Campus of Northern Arizona University. With more than seventy participants, the dinner brought together a variety of guests from the local institutions.

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Foundation for the Inter-Cultural Dialogue successfully organized the Fifth Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner on 24th October at Hyatt Regency for the fifth time in Phoenix with a stupendous response. The sole purpose of the dinner was to raise awareness towards peace in Arizonians and help them to meet people from various walks of life through a peaceful atmosphere.

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An awareness notice was put up throughout the State to various organizations and at notice boards to notify people about this event and they were supposed to RSVP so as to be a part of the event. The number of guests far exceeded our expectation and the interest of the participants was obvious from the eyes through the halls crammed with people on the day of the event. Over two hundred participants from

The Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner 2008 was held at Student Memorial Union Ct., North Ballroom. The event was a huge success. It was hosted by Dan Marries, KOLD News 13. Prof. John Olsen was the keynote speaker and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, Sr. Karen Berry, Basheer Shahin and Rev. Elwood McDowell made speeches about the importance of dialogue and friendship. A traditional art of Ebru/ Water marbling performance was presented with the recital of a Turkish acoustic instrument Kanun, at the end of the program.  read more »

Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue (FID) has successfully organized the first Arizona Children's Festival on March 30th 2008, at the Tempe Center for the Arts, with the participation of over three hundred people. Besides cultural dance performances of Turkey, Mexico, Japan, Pakistan-India, Bosnia, Bukharian Jews of Uzbekistan and Meskhetian Turks of Russia; Therese Inzerello, the MC of the event, offered other interesting happenings to the audience. Among them were a children's story named "Hello, I am a rock" by Anddrew Alden, the demonstration of Ebru Art with the companionship of a reed flute, ney, and the award ceremony for the finalists of photo and artwork contests.  read more »

Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue will be hosting a new tradition: Arizona Children's Festival in Tempe Center for the Arts at March 30th, 2008. We'll also be having a children's photo contest for middle school and artwork contest for elementary school students in the theme of "Peace". The contests will run until the festival, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony that will take part in Arizona Children's Festival.

The 4th Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner

Now becoming a tradition in Phoenix, our 4th Dialogue and Friendship Dinner took place in Hyatt Regency Hotel, on Thursday, September 20. We were so happy to see over 150 distinguished guests at our dinner, including journalists, artists, government officials, and representatives from several cultural and religious groups and many others who had an interest in intercultural dialogue.

The night started with the opening speech of the President of FID, Ismail Karatas who gave brief information about the educational and social activities of FID and emphasized the significance of intercultural and interfaith dialogue.

After the opening remarks, keynote speaker Prof Thomas Davis of Arizona State University ascended the pulpit to give his keynote speech, which he assigned to the importance of diversity and how it is achieved.

The greatest surprise of the night was a live calligraphy performance by the Turkish calligrapher Aydin Cayir, who came from Turkey. His ten-minute performance was watched with great interest by our guests, who were surprised to learn that their names were already written on small cards to be given them at the end of the night as a special gift of FID.

Having the aim of promoting ‘dialogue’ and ‘friendship’, we allocated the last section of the dinner for a round table discussion, when our guests had the opportunity to know each other better and discuss how promoting interfaith and intercultural dialogue can be used to solve conflicts in our society.

The night ended with the closing remarks by Robert B. Kaiser (journalist-writer and the President of Jesuit Alumni in Arizona), and AZ State Representatives Mark Anderson and Steve Farley, who all expressed their appreciation of the efforts of FID in promoting dialogue.

Robert B. Kaiser made an emphasis on things that bring us together: “art and stories which cut through abstraction.” “The real test for all of us is to be proactive and to live dialogue and friendship by going beyond the words discussed by the speaker” said Kaiser.

Mark Anderson stated how grateful he is for being part of the Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue. He pointed the high spirit of love and peace among the members of FID and expressed his appreciation of the efforts of FID in promoting dialogue. He also reminded us the following day being International Day of Peace proclaimed by the UN. “In that regard, the dinner had a special significance providing a medium for peace and harmony for those of us seeking for the commonalities, which are the foundation for friendship and working together” said Anderson.

Steve Farley, who participated to a recent FID trip to Turkey, said that he was deeply affected by people in Turkey for that they honestly opened their hearts to their guests. He said that “opening our hearts is absolutely the key for what we need to do in the world today.” “The only way to proceed forward and maintain world peace and be able to bring it here on earth is to keep hearts open no matter how hard that is. I think we have shown an example how to do this. We must carry that forward.”

Since 2004, Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue (FID) has been organizing dialogue and friendship dinners to bring the members of different faiths and communities of Arizona together. We aim to increase intercultural awareness in our community.  read more »

Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue presents the Legendary Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.

As UNESCO designates the year of 2007 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue is bringing one of the wonders of Turkey to Tucson: "The Legendary Whirling Dervishes of Rumi". The Whirling Dervishes are performing one of the most exquisite ceremonies of spirituality. This ceremony, filled with music and dance, is a rare opportunity to experience a mesmerizing seven-century old ritual, incredible performance featuring beautiful costumes, live music with flutes, string and percussion, and the amazing sight of the Dervishes which displays an infinite spinning in perfect harmony.  read more »

Since 2004, Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue (FID) has been organizing interfaith dialogue dinners to bring the members of different faiths and communities of Arizona together. We aim to increase intercultural awareness in our community. FID hosted its 3rd Annual Interfaith Dialogue Dinner at the Phoenix Marriott Airport Hotel on 12 October 2006, Thursday, at 7:00 pm. About 150 guests from various religious and cultural groups attended the dinner. The dinner was co-sponsored by the Global Cultural Connections Foundation (GCC) of California.  read more »