ITHACA, N.Y. -- Faruk Logoglu, Turkey's ambassador to the United States, will deliver the opening address for a two-day forum on "European Turkey: Modernization, Secularism and Islam," on Friday, Dec. 3, at 5:30 p.m. in the A.D. White House at Cornell University. Logoglu's remarks will be followed by a concert of Turkish music and dance, performed by Cornell's Middle Eastern Ensemble and the dance group Chandani.

On Saturday, Dec. 4, Kemal Gürüz, former president of Turkey's council of higher education, will deliver the forum's keynote address at 6 p.m. in the atrium at Sage Hall. Gürüz is currently a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

Saturday's keynote speech will cap a series of themed panel discussions held in Sage Hall, Room B01: "The Emergence of Modern Turkey" at 9 a.m.; "Post-Modern Turkey: Part A -- Foreign Relations" at 11:15 a.m.; "Post-Modern Turkey: Part B -- Secularism, Tolerance and the E.U." at 2 p.m.; and "Trade, Economics and Secularism" at 3:45 p.m.

Presented by Cornell's Institute for European Studies' Mediterranean Initiative, the forum occurs on the eve of Turkey's latest bid to become a member of the European Union (E.U.). Panel speakers will address such topics as the creation of the modern Turkish state, Turkey's development since World War II, minorities in Turkey, European concerns about Islamic fundamentalism, Turkey's bid to join the E.U., and the role of trade and economic development in creating and maintaining Turkey's secular status.

The forum will conclude with a screening of "Distant," by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, at 7:30 p.m. at Cornell Cinema in Willard Straight Hall.

For a complete list of speakers, visit the forum Web site at http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/europe/initiatives/turkey.asp . For more information about the forum, contact Gail Holst-Warhaft at the IES, 255-7592, or by e-mail at glh3@cornell.edu .