Date posted: July 20, 2016
This is how Fethullah Gulen has responded to ‘the coup’ accusations.
Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | Military coups in Turkey | Turkey |

Gülen has placed much emphasis on education. With a new ijtihad (independent reasoning), he always stated that instead of building a mosque, religious businessmen must establish secular schools that will educate the future’s engineers, doctors, lawyers, journalists and yes, police, prosecutors and judges.

Süleyman Yaşar, a former columnist at the Sabah daily who has a broad vision regarding the economic policy of the current government, was fired from the outlet for not criticizing the Hizmet movement [the faith-based organization inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen]

The sweeping purges and mass arrests since last month’s failed military coup in Turkey have confirmed many of the worst fears about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. They are the most recent in a long history of abuses. Over the last few years, Mr. Erdogan has harshly repressed the Turkish press and civil society, supported extremist militant groups in Syria

After the barbaric terrorist attacks in Paris, daily life in many European cities has been substantially challenged.

A prompt investigation launched against journalist Mehmet Baransu for reporting on a confidential National Security Council document that mentioned a planned crackdown on faith-based groups in the country has been met with harsh criticism by Turkish and foreign journalist associations. “It is the responsibility of a journalist to report on issues that directly concern the people,” stated Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, when speaking to the Cihan news agency.

Yavuz Baydar Heading to Los Angeles, I had good reason to revisit a recent article that my colleague, Dr. Şahin Alpay, wrote for Today’s Zaman. Titled “Why is Fethullah Gülen so influential?” (May 5), it addresses several basic questions about the personality who was chosen by TIME Magazine in its April 29 issue as one […]
