Turkey’s prominent journalist Fehmi Koru answered Ece Uner’s questions on Haberturk TV. He also made comments about the AK Party-Gulen Movement conflict and the probability that the Gulen Movement may engage in active party politics.
Koru said, “What you call as the movement is a civil society organization. They let politicians do the daily politics. They have political opinions and they try to influence politics. But they do this by having relations with politicians as they did in the past. It is against the nature of the movement to impose any opinion on the government. If there is sharp irreconcilable disagreement between the movement and the AK Party, they may found a political party. But if they do so, they will lose the advantage of being a [civil society] movement. They will face more criticism when they found a political party.
What is going on in Turkey right now reminds me very much of the last few scenes in the first Godfather movie, where Michael Corleone is settling all of the Family’s outstanding business. Corleone is seen in church renouncing “Satan and all his works” while he participates in the baptism of his nephew—shortly before garroting the baby’s father, Carl.
Hopefully the Gulen movement will help change the American values
Peace Islands Institute hosted Dr. James Harrington on a “Book Conversations” program on March 1st 2012. Journalist/Writer Aydogan Vatandas interviewed Dr. James Harrington on his book titled “Wrestling with Free Speech, Religious Freedom, and Democracy in Turkey: The Political Trials and Times of Fethullah Gulen“. Following his presentation there was Q&A part. Below is the interview […]
Book Review: Faith, Theology and Service in Peacebuilding
This book, bringing together key papers from three conferences, offers refreshingly varied, critically nuanced views of Gulen’s thinking and shows the profound impact hizmet has had on particular individuals and societies.
Dehumanize me Turkish-style — no comment
Following the Dec. 17 and 25 corruption investigations implicating Cabinet ministers and senior members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his inner circle and pro-AK Party media have launched a concerted, collective and comprehensive dehumanization strategy against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement. What follows is a snippet of the type of language used without comment, as comment is not needed.
The Middle Eastern voice of Europe — Natacha Atlas
İLHAN GÖKALP/TUĞBA ÜLGER, LONDON Many of her fans would say her songs touch their soul, with the rhythmic patterns of her smooth voice combining Arab and Western flavors in a harmonious bridge between East and West. Born to a father of Arabic-Jewish ancestry and a British mother, singer Natacha Atlas is among the most popular […]
Fethullah Gulen: Turkey’s Eroding Democracy (op-ed in NY Times)
It is deeply disappointing to see what has become of Turkey in the last few years. Not long ago, it was the envy of Muslim-majority countries: a viable candidate for the European Union on its path to becoming a functioning democracy that upholds universal human rights, gender equality, the rule of law and the rights of Kurdish and non-Muslim citizens.
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