Date posted: August 30, 2014
Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish scholar, thinker, social entrepreneur and opinion leader known as founder of Gulen Movement. He stances for democracy, interfaith dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and secular education where universal values are embodied by altruistic teachers.
Tags: Fethullah Gulen | Peacebuilding |

Amid ongoing efforts by the Turkish government to close down schools opened by Turkish entrepreneurs linked to the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, intellectuals and academics across Europe at a symposium in Germany agreed that thanks to its worldwide educational activities, the movement can serve as a bridge in promoting interreligious and interethnic dialogue between Islamic countries and secular ones.

Let me put it on record that I’m one of the few who strongly believe the alleged coup attempt could have been stage-managed to give Tayyip Recep Erdogan the justification to clamp down on real and perceived opponents to his ambition to rewrite the constitution and transfer the centre of executive power from the office of the Prime Minister to the office of the President, which he presently occupies.

The in-depth interview with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social movement called Hizmet, and was published this week in a five-part series by both Zaman and Today’s Zaman was received well by people from all walks of life including intellectuals, academics, politicians and human rights activists.

A recent government circular sent to police departments across Turkey told police to seize the skins of sacrificed animals during Eid al-Adha collected on behalf of the “Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization” (FETÖ) — a derogatory term President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his political associates developed in order to disparage the faith-based Gülen movement, which is […]

Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has sent a message of condolence to the families of the victims of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist organization in Iraq and he has condemned ISIL’s violence. Gülen’s statement, which addressed Kurdish, Turkmen, Arab, Yazidi, Shiite and Sunni families in Iraq, was published in the leading newspapers of Iraq’s Kurdish region such as Rudaw, Hawlati, Basnews, Kürdistany Nwe, Xebat and Çawder.

I’m saddened to hear that the Hizmet Movement here is being categorized as a terror group. To classify them as terrorists in any form is a great misrepresentation. And I consider it a privilege and an honor to be associated with them and to be part of the brotherhood. They’re a benefit to the Muslim community and humanity as a whole.
