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.
Those who have an interest in Turkish politics may have been a little confused for the last few weeks, observing the row between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government and the social movement of religious scholar Fethullah Gülen, or the “Hizmet” (Service) movement as they preferred to be called. The row is over the closure of private prep schools (“dershane” in Turkish).
Intel chief first gives anti-Hizmet file to Obama, then visits Gülen, STV president Karaca says
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan gave a file containing a plan to finish off the Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to US President Barack Obama and then the MİT head visited Gülen at his home in Pennsylvania, Samanyolu Media Group Chief Hidayet Karaca stated on Tuesday.
Fethullah Gülen’s prospects for inter-religious dialogue
Fethullah Gülen has emerged as one of the most persuasive and influential voices in the Muslim community calling for dialogue as a step toward peace. Indeed, he offers “a way to live out Islamic values amidst the complex demands of modern societies and to engage in ongoing dialogue and cooperation with people of other religions.”
Fethullah Gulen on attempts to associate Hizmet with terrorism and ISIS
Fethullah Gulen: As I have stated earlier, I have long called ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Murabitun, and many other organizations terrorist, maybe fifty times. And I have said a Muslim cannot be a terrorist; a Muslim can never engage in terrorism.
The end of ‘unshakable’ AKP myth
For the last couple of days, the codes and rules, which have been turned upside-down by Turkey’s ruling AKP, have become hard to keep up with since the AKP was forced to fight a self-created “monster.” The option for a snap election call seems the wisest option for his party but stakes are high over there too if he fails in his traditional “victimization” rhetoric, which worked well in many previous crisis, to convince his electorate.
Gülen movement’s engagement with political processes
Fethullah Gülen is often portrayed as the quintessential idealist, relaying on spirituality, ideas and engagement rather than political power. Gülen, in fact, is a far more complicated man than such a simplistic portrayal would lead us to believe. He has an astute sense of hard and soft power and understands power in terms of its various components and limits.
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