Extradite Gülen? Really?

Michael Rubin
Michael Rubin


Date posted: July 19, 2016

Michael Rubin

For the past three years, if a bird shat on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he would blame Fethullah Gülen, a US-based cleric and former ally. What next transpired would be the only predictable thing about Turkish politics:

  • State-run TRT would broadcast newscasts talking about the plot.
  • Sabah, a paper confiscated by Erdogan and transferred to his son-in-law, would run editorials condemning Gülen and infiltration of flocks of birds.
  • Egemin Bagış, the president’s confidant and peon, would insult Europeans, cite Islamic honor, while smugly mocking the Quran when he felt no one was listening. What he said really would have no relevance to the issue at hand, so both Turks and Western diplomats would shrug their shoulders and ask each other what Erdogan sees in him? Was it Bagış’s big hands?
  • Many Turkish journalists would repeat the conspiracy, hoping that they would mysteriously find enough money in their bank account to buy a posh house on the Bosphorus.
  • Yeni Şafak, meanwhile, might provide some comic relief by noting that the bird was sent from Israel and guided over the president’s head bytelekinesis.
  • Erdogan, of course, would demand the judiciary prosecute those behind the “kuş pisligi darbe.”

The whole matter might sound ridiculous to anyone outside of Turkey, but Erdogan’s supporters follow him blindly.

Enter the current coup plot. Erdogan literally has blamed every obstacle, fanciful plot, and malfeasance upon the elderly cleric. He fingered him in last Friday’s attempted coup even before the smoke settled. Increasingly, it seems the Obama administration might actually take the Turkish president seriously.

We’ve been down this path before. After the Islamic Revolution, Jimmy Carter was desperate to repair US-Iran ties. Ayatollah Khomeini repeatedly brushed him off. Perhaps emissaries might offer some hope behind the scenes but then in rhetoric and state media, Khomeini’s regime would fan anti-Americanism and try to humiliate the hapless president.

When Carter’s outreach failed to sway Tehran, he offered more. Rather than defend the ailing shah who had stood by America during the Cold War, Carter sought not only to hasten the cancer-stricken Shah’s departure for Panama, but he also may have hinted to the Panamanians that the United States would not object should they return him to Iran. The gesture did not assuage Iran’s religious dictator, however. As Peter Rodman, a former aide to Henry Kissinger, noted, “The eagerness to prove goodwill to an intransigent opponent paradoxically makes a settlement less likely.”

It wasn’t just the matter of justice or one man, however.  A willingness to reverse course under pressure and betray allies may have convinced Soviet leaders who already saw Carter as weak that American reaction to an invasion of Afghanistan would be slight.

What’s going on isn’t about Gülen. It’s a power play. When someone is delusional—even if that person happens to be the leader of a NATO ally—the worst thing that someone can do is pander to the delusion.

Source: The American Enterprise Institute , July 19, 2016


Related News

Assassination plot against Fethullah Gülen

According to a new book, the Turkish Revenge Brigade planned an assassination against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen during the days surrounding the Feb. 28, 1997 military coup, when Gülen was closely followed by the West Study Group (BÇG), which was established by the Turkish Armed Forces to carry on the fight against reactionaryism and kept records of the ideological and religious background of academics and universities during the Feb. 28 military intervention process.

‘Inception,’ the Gülen community and the PKK

Kurtuluş Tayiz I have been following anti-Fethullah Gülen broadcasts in the Kurdish media for some time now. Television stations, newspapers and Internet sites known for their closeness to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have incessantly been spreading hostility amongst its readers against Gülen. It wouldn’t be so difficult to understand if most of these publications […]

Pro-gov’t media continues smear campaign against Hizmet movement

In order to defame the Hizmet movement, A Haber — a member of the government-designed “pool media,” created through funds raised by various businessmen to protect the government’s interests — has described a Felicity Party (SP) election campaign conducted by women in the province of Hatay as “black propaganda” against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Mother of four under detention for months on coup charges

A tweet posted by Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, an academic and a columnist for the t24 news website, revealed that a Turkish woman with four children has been kept in pre-trial detention for nine months on alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group.

Fethullah Gülen’s Statement of Condolences and Condemnation for Manhattan Terrorist Attack

Fethullah Gülen: I am deeply shocked and saddened by the atrocious terrorist attack in Manhattan which resulted in the deaths of eight innocent civilians and left 11 others injured. I strongly condemn this despicable and senseless act of violence.

Filipina, infant freed from Turkish jail, but…

The Filipina mother who forcibly was separated from her infant and detained in Turkey for weeks has been released. But their reunion is being cut short by her deportation, in the crackdown following a failed coup in which she had no part. Information is being withheld from Karen’s lawyer and the Philippine Embassy staff assisting her. Forcible separation of an infant from her mother is a humanitarian concern.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Fethullah Gulen and Gulen Movement discussed in New York

All colors gather in Turkey to pay last tributes to Vatican official Msgr. Marovitch

Bride, groom detained in bridal car while on way to wedding venue

Northern Illinois Conference Leaders Join Delegation to Turkey

Two volunteers of Gülen Movement reportedly abducted after released by Azerbaijani Court

Hizmet movement and Kurdish question in Turkey

Secretary Kerry insists Turkey must provide legal, solid evidence against Fethullah Gulen

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News