Ali Semerkandî Memorial: The First Edition of Our Scientific Conference, Titled “Çamlıdere Ali Semerkandî International Workshop-2,” Was Held in Çamlıdere on June 4, 2016, Again on an International Scale, With 51% of the Presenting Academics Coming from Abroad. We Also Have the Book Available.

Today is an important day for us. Because we are meeting for the second time in Çamlıdere, where the tomb of a historical figure who came from the heart of Semerkand and made a name for himself worldwide is located. Sheikh Ali Semerkandî, who established a foundation for the zawiya he built on the land he purchased, has been recorded in the Ottoman archives since the mid-15th century. The Ali Semerkandî movement continued its existence in the fields of education, health, production, and art until 1924, when tekke education, tekke economic-politics, and the activities of tekâyâ and zevâyân were terminated. This workshop, organized under the motto “Ali Semerkandî'ye Vefâ” (Fidelity to Ali Semerkandî), is an honorable endeavor both for the people of Çamlıdere and for bringing us together with our true history. I congratulate those who contributed to it.

Geographically, Çamlıdere is located at the intersection of roads. It is a fertile valley of ideas, a geography with a high capacity for thought. As Evliya Çelebi said, its water and air are very beautiful, and its people are quite strong. It can embrace people of many different colors and patterns.

We can read the manuscripts of Ali Semerkandî, who was born in Samarkand or Isfahan 704 years ago, and the deeds of the foundations he established, which are kept in archives. We can say that the education and production system in the tekkes of Semerkandî served as a model for science and industrialization in Anatolia.