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 |

“The extradition process is a serious one, governed by [a] treaty with Turkey that is clear about the steps that need to be taken in such cases. It should not be a political matter,” the lawyers wrote. “The United States has strong democratic institutions, including its judiciary system, where these high-level issues are handled. We expect and are confident that will be the case in the next administration.”

The Turkish government needs to understand that this kind of crazy makes it much less likely that the U.S. will extradite Gulen. His lawyers can point to this kind of demented paranoia as evidence that the Turkish justice system can’t be trusted to give him a fair trial. Most U.S. judges are likely to agree.

The faith-based social movement Gülen has inspired as one of the major civil society forces in Turkey which, through educational, media, business and social solidarity institutions, promotes democratization, socio-economic development and integration with the global community.

Religion, particularly Islam, has become one of the most difficult subject areas to tackle in recent years. Contemporary culture, whether approached from the perspective of anthropology or theology, psychology or psychoanalysis, evaluates religion with empirical methods. On the one hand, religion is an inwardly experienced and felt phenomenon, one mostly related to life’s permanent aspects.

In her remarks, she recalled Gülen’s call for love, compassion, forgiveness and celebration of diversity for which she affirmed her full support. ‘I personally relate to Mr. Gülen’s ideas and his whole views very much. I think he has identified some very critical points up from which we must consider taking on our lives. I was very impressed about to hear his work and all the centers around the world that are supporting his work. I would love to support it by myself.’

Gülen said in a statement on Thursday, released by the Alliance for Shared Values, an umbrella body of instutitions linked to the Gülen movement, that he “deplored the brutal atrocities” by the terrorist group “hiding behind a false religious rhetoric.” He joined the “people of conscience” from around the world in calling for these perpetrators to immediately cease their “cruel and inhuman acts.”
