The Gülen community and the AKP

Taha Akyol
Taha Akyol


Date posted: April 9, 2012

TAHA AKYOL

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which is in line with Fethullah Gülen, has issued an announcement on relations with the ruling party. It is certain that Gülen made the last retouches on the text himself. Gülen defines the movement shortly as “Hizmet” (translated roughly as “service” in English).

I asked those who drafted the declaration, and they told me that they were careful on two points while writing the announcement:

– We are keen on maintaining warm relations with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). There is no conflict between the party and the community; there should not be.

– But this does not mean we are fully engaged in the party. We view the AK Party from the angle of our principles.

As seen in the long text of the announcement, they declare that they are not in a fight with the AK Party, moreover they support it, but also they are not from the “AK Party.”

Was [Then Prime Minister] Ecevit a follower?

Daily Hürriyet’s April 13, 1998 issue had a picture of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in one of the inner pages. Those days were the toughest days of the February 28 era. Erdoğan was being tried at the Diyarbakır State Security Court because of a poem he had cited. Right next to this is another very important story: Republican People’s Party (CHP) Secretary-General Adnan Keskin was accusing (former prime minister) Bülent Ecevit of “acting like a follower of Fethullah Gülen.”

Because Ecevit had defended Gülen and his schools at National Security Council (MGK) meetings, defying heavy pressure from February 28 operators. The Gülen society also, maybe not as a bloc but to an important extent, voted for Ecevit in the 1999 elections.

This was not a simple trade-off; Ecevit and Gülen had met a few times and had conversations on Islamic Sufism philosophy. Gülen had also met (former president) Turgut Özal a few times. I don’t know if he had met other leaders.

A warm and critical relationship

Indeed, the relationship of a social movement based on religious motivations such as the Gülen movement would have “warmer” and more “critical” relationships with conservative political powers. It is apparent why it would be warmer.

When it comes to the reason why it would be more critical; the AK Party cannot tolerate looking as if they are “Fethullah’s Party.” Similarly, the Gülen movement cannot tolerate looking as if they were a branch of the government.

The reason for the clash experienced between them is these opposite sensitivities.

However, continuation of this conflict would have resulted in very bad consequences. For this reason, it was ended with mutual announcements. Look what has been said in the declaration:

“Today, in Turkey, a situation that would suit best the purposes of those defenders of the [military] tutelage would be a conflict between the ‘hizmet’ and the AK Party.”

Yes, the conflict has been discontinued.

Even if there was no AK Party

In the declaration of GYV, it is explained why the AK Party is being supported. It is their principle to support parties “today also as it was yesterday” that work toward “democratization, providing religious freedoms, reaching recognized international standards – primarily the European Union, rule of law and human rights…”
Notice, “today also as it was yesterday.” In other words, not because they are loyal to the party, but because the party follows such policies.

In the announcement where the Gülen movement is named “Hizmet,” it is stated that they had the same stance toward political parties even at times when the AKP did not exist.

“The view of Hizmet toward political parties is not a matter that has emerged after the AK Party was formed or with the AK Party. Hizmet’s view on political parties summarized above was determined long before and Hizmet again has viewed the AK Party within the framework of its conventional values.”
Not becoming one of the party, but viewing the party through its own values.

Separate tracks

The reason that the Gülen movement is strong is that it is sociological: It is because it is a civilian social movement at peace with, and even nestling with, such modernization dynamics as education, becoming middle-class, becoming professional and upward social mobility. Its achievements in education and entrepreneurship are in clear sight.

Certainly they need liberal democracy. However, politics with the aim of “governing” is a very different track.

Nongovernmental organizations cannot be totally isolated from politics but their tracks should not be overlapping; there should be a “distance” between them.

The latest statements of the sides show that there will be a “distance” while the relations are maintained.

Taha Akyol is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was published on April 9. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News , April/10/2012


Related News

Oligarchic clique’s devious plans

Şahin, a longtime friend and political partner of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, insisted that “the government is run by a small oligarchy of elites in a way that excludes broad segments of the party constituency and the Turkish people.”

Liberal Turkish Journalists Champion Freedom of Expression, to a Degree

It’s precisely opposition journalists who have been criticized by colleagues who until recently worked for the newspapers of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen. These colleagues accuse the opposition journalists of betraying freedom of expression. One of them is Sevgi Akarcesme who was editor-in-chief of the Turkish English-language daily Today’s Zaman. There is a great deal of truth in Akarcesme’s claims. But who today would dare defend journalists identified with Gulen?

Fethullah Gülen’s dialogue and tolerance discourse parallels Gandhi’s

Sudheendra Kulkarni, the head of the India-based Mumbai Research Foundation, has said there are parallels between the views of Mahatma Gandhi and Fethullah Gülen. Kulkarni talked to students from the Faculty of Theology at Marmara University, discrediting the misconception that Gandhi was against technology. Kulkarni described his new book, “Music of The Spinning Wheel,” and obscured characteristics of Gandhi as the protagonist of his book.

Disregard call to close Turkish schools – Proprietors tell Nigerian govt

Owners of the Nigeria Turkish International College have urged Nigeria to disregard the call by the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, to close its schools in the country.

‘State of rule of law suspended in Turkey, if not completely eliminated’

I’ve been in the military judiciary for years and I haven’t observed anything like it [“parallel state” in regards to the Hizmet movement], and I haven’t observed it in the civilian judiciary, either.

Iranian gold stars in Turkish corruption scandal

It is difficult to predict how the bribery/corruption investigation into several Turkish ministers will end. Although there are those who frame the event as a power struggle between the Fethullah Gulen movement and the government, conspiracy theories expand its dimensions to include the United States and Iran. The government is looking for US and Israeli hands in the operation because of the use of Halkbank to circumvent the sanctions imposed on Iran.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Dialogue Institute of the Southwest presents Whirling Dervishes of Rumi

The Turkish invasion of Nigeria

Pak-Turk schools replace Turkish principals with Pakistanis

Appeals court unanimously upholds Fethullah Gülen acquittal

Modern authoritarianism

Toward the ‘Mubarak model’

Hizmet in Context: Societal Islam Versus Political Islam

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News