On November 14, with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Ankara, a scientific seminar was organized between the ISMI under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Center for crises and political studies of Turkey (ANKASAM).  During the event, participants discussed the ongoing processes in the Islamic world, initiatives of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on promoting of enlightened Islam, as well as issues of development of cooperation between ISRS and ANKASA.

According to the Turkish experts, in the era of globalization, characterized by religious radicalization, the modern world needs new ideas to promote the true values ​​of Islam. In this context, conceptually new initiatives of the Uzbek leader to promote enlightened Islam, declared within the framework of international organizations such as the UN and the OIC are very important. In a very short time, the Imam Al Bukhari International Research Center in Samarkand and the Center for Islamic Civilization in Tashkent opened in Uzbekistan. Underlining the critical importance of these initiatives, as well as the enormous intellectual heritage of Uzbekistan, the head of ANKASAM, Professor Mehmet Erol, stressed the need to implement joint research projects to popularize enlightened Islam, conceptual and theoretical foundations of which were laid by world-famous Islamic scholars, such as Al Bukhari, Imam Moturidi, Naqshbandi and others.

It should be noted that Mehmet Erol is one of the leading Turkish experts on the history and modern processes of Central Asia. He visited Uzbekistan as an international observer at the presidential and parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan for several times.