Turkish PM calls for boycott of Gülen movement’s schools


Date posted: February 27, 2014

 

ISTANBUL

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has geared up his rhetoric against the movement of U.S. based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, calling for a boycott of the movement’s schools.

“Leave the prep schools and schools of [the movement]. Say: Public schools are enough for us,” Erdoğan said during a rally in the southern province of Burdur on Feb. 27.

“Public schools will be enough. If parents want additional lessons for their children on the weekends, we will do it. They will be free of charge,” he added.

Erdoğan accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating the massive graft probe targeting his government, but usually refers to the group through indirect terms such as “parallel state.”

The ongoing turmoil in the country increased this week, with the prime minister facing unprecedented accusations of corruption after the leak of incriminating phone conversations between himself and his son, in the wake of the initial police raids conducted on Dec. 17.

Erdoğan has called the tape a fabrication and accused the Gülen movement over it, while the opposition has urged him to resign.

Source: Hurriyet Daily , February 27, 2014

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Tariq Ramadan says Erdoğan should practice what he preached to Mubarak

Prominent scholar Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, has criticized the Turkish prime minister for seeking more power and urged him to rethink staying in power for a longer time. Ramadan said, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once told former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak — that one day he will have to know how to leave — is true for him as well. “[Erdoğan] also needs to get this right.”

Erdoğan, Hizmet, assassins

Former Interior Minister Idris Naim Şahin stated that “the government is run by a small oligarchic elite in a way that excludes broad segments of the party constituency and the Turkish people” is very explanatory vis-à-vis Mr. Erdoğan’s shockingly undemocratic and increasingly authoritarian performance over the last two years, since he received 50 per cent of the vote in the 2011 general elections.

Turkish educator says Demirel stood with Turkish schools abroad

Turkish educator Süleyman Alptekin has said that Turkey’s ninth president, Süleyman Demirel, who died on Wednesday at the age of 90, won people’s hearts with his open support for Turkish educators and Turkish schools abroad inspired by the views of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Alptekin was flown back to the country in Demirel’s plane after being seriously injured in an accident in Bangladesh in 1997.

Kurdish paper Rudaw’s interview with Fethullah Gulen

The Gülen movement’s stance toward the Kurdish issue has become ever more questioned since the Turkish government’s recent targeting of the Hizmet movement. A close analysis, however, suggests a complex picture.

Hate speech and its impact on the movement (1)

It amounts to the otherization of a social group, cowing it into submission. It is a weapon used by the powerful to destroy the “others.” Hate speech is particularly dangerous when employed by those who exercise public authority as it leads to official discrimination. In a democratic country, it is one of the state’s basic duties to prevent the use of hate speech.

New Book – No Return from Democracy: A Survey of Interviews with Fethullah Gulen

It was rare, if not impossible, to find in ’80s and ’90s a Muslim cleric who spoke in favor of democracy, integration with the Western world, and universal human values. Fethullah Gülen was one of those. This book collates Gülen’s ahead-of-his-time comments on some of the debated issues as he phrased in interviews in the past few decades.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

‘We will not learn how to struggle against corruption from you’

Gov’t’s hate campaign against Kimse Yok Mu draws condemnations

Criticism and risks

Why Is Turkey Targeting Hizmet? Questions about Erdoğan’s Post-Coup Crackdown

Afghan Parents Complain to UN Over Detention of Turkish Teachers

MP close to Gülen quits ruling AKP, slams accusations against Islamic scholar

Fethullah Gülen’s Lawyers: Gülen Movement Has No Link With Zarrab Case In US

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News