Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar | 15th Annual MAS-ICNA Convention

Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, guest of honor from the Republic of Turkey, and Vice Chair of KADEM (Women and Democracy Association), addressed the 15th Annual MAS-ICNA Convention at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL on Monday, December 26th, 2016. Her session was entitled: “Overcoming Challenges Facing the Ummah: The Turkish Experience."

Born in a world that restricted her rights, Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar tells her inspiring tale of escaping exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of her religion. She narrates the tumultuous era of the hijab ban preventing her from studying in her home country and her difficult decision to choose her religion over her education in Turkey. Her choice to remain firm with her religion is a lesson that all Muslims should look up to, and it was her steadfastness, and that of the citizens of Turkey, that resulted in Allah opening the doors of opportunity for her and the subsequent doors of victory for Turkey and Islam. Her choice to combat the colonization of the minds of the former oppressive regimes and stand in solidarity with the marginalized citizen of Turkey is an example the entire Muslim world can be proud of.

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