Gülen Movement supports not AK Party but right projects

Dr. Yalcin-Akdogan
Dr. Yalcin-Akdogan


Date posted: October 24, 2010

In an interview with Özlem Akarsu Çelik for the Turkish newspaper Akşam, Prime Minister Erdoğan’s Chief Advisor, Associate Professor Yalçın Akdoğan talked about  the Gülen Movement. Akdoğan answered Çelik’s questions about the Gulen Movement’s role in the democratic initiative taken against the conflict in south eastern Turkey. He also expressed his views on the movement’s position in the current political arena of Turkey .

-There has been a tension between the Gülen Movement, who established a Kurdish television, and the PKK, why?

PKK is a terrorist organization, which does not tolerate diversity and different ideas. They are barbarian and cruel even amongst themselves, and also brutal to the Kurds who do not support them. It is not too much surprising to see that the Gülen Movement is targeted by this organization, which burns businessmen’s machines, collects extortion from storekeepers, murders imams, bomb buildings of political parties and threaten local media and civil organizations.

At this point it is very critical to provide security in the region. People who are against the government’s safety cautions are actually helping PKK’s persecutions. The fact that the Gülen Movement embraces people would not damage Turkey’s unity; on the contrary it would strengthen the brotherhood of the people.

“The claim that they are becoming political is an unfair judgement”

-Don’t you think Fethullah Gülen, who openly shows support to the Ak Party administration, is acting like a political figure? Are the people who form what you call a “civic movement” becoming political?

I believe that these people support not the Ak Party but the right steps and projects. The fact that the members of the movement personally like the Ak Party and feel a kind of emotional connection is one thing, but support as a whole movement shows just that they support the democratic steps the government is taking. The Gülen movement is a socio-cultural organization. What has made it get so big is the fact that they remain non-political and are able to establish bonds of love with diverse groups of people. The claim that they’re becoming political is an unfair judgement. Indeed they deny these allegations too, and say that it is against the movement’s core purpose of existence.

-Hüseyin Gülerce from Zaman newspaper said that Fethullah Gülen would like to return to Turkey. What would happen if Gülen returned?

Nothing would happen!

-Is there anything preventing him from coming?

There is no law preventing him. He can come anytime he wants. It is his choice. I don’t think anybody has the right to tell him to come or not to come.

NOTE: This is a translation by IDC of the questions and answers related to the Gülen Movement. The original interview was published in Turkish on October 17, 2010 by Akşam: http://www.aksam.com.tr/2010/10/17/haber/guncel/16818/ocalan_bile_kck_yi_elestirdi.html


Related News

The Gülen community and the AKP

TAHA AKYOL The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which is in line with Fethullah Gülen, has issued an announcement on relations with the ruling party. It is certain that Gülen made the last retouches on the text himself. Gülen defines the movement shortly as “Hizmet” (translated roughly as “service” in English). I asked those who […]

AKP winning perception war !

The probe, which many predicted to be the end of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has become a war of perception. If you google “graft,” “bribery” or “corruption” in Turkish, you will see the focus has already shifted to a concept so far unheard of in Turkish politics (the “parallel state”), reassigning public prosecutors and police officers to different posts, condemning all sorts of “disinformation” and changing laws governing the structure of the judiciary.

Jurist’s report highlighting illegality of Karaca’s arrest submitted to top court

Lawyers representing journalist Hidayet Karaca, who remains in prison despite a ruling for his release, have submitted a report drafted by a prominent jurist to the Constitutional Court in which the unlawfulness of Karaca’s arrest was highlighted.

Cleric’s Lawyers Want US Suit Backed by Turkey Tossed

Attorneys for a reclusive Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania asked a federal judge late Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit that claims he orchestrated human rights abuses in his native Turkey, denouncing it as “pure political theater” by the Turkish government.

Turkey’s largest charity group targeted

Turkey’s political Islamists, armed with abusive government powers, are deliberately and maliciously trying to strangle the country’s leading private charity group, Kimse Yok Mu, in order to dismantle an important barrier in front of the awkward social engineering project of turning this moderate Muslim nation into a bastion for ideological zealots.

Amnesty International researcher criticizes witch-hunt in Turkey

Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher has leveled sharp criticism against Turkey over ongoing purges that have followed a failed coup attempt in July and said arrests and firings over alleged links to the Gülen movement have now turned into a wide-ranging witch-hunt. He said arrest and detentions, which are based on no evidence, are bound to inflict damage to the notions of rule of law and freedom of expression.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Turkish firm offers to set up schools in Sindh, Pakistan

In Conversation with Fethullah Gülen (Interview in Asharq Al-Awsat-I)

Africa, Albania and Erdogan’s campaign against Turkish schools

8.5-month pregnant woman under arrest though baby faces heart, kidney problems

Turkish schools in Austria select finalists for Int’l Turkish Olympiads

Texas Agency Finds No Wrongdoing by Harmony Public Schools

Gulen Denies Involvement – Erdogan Uses Coup for Repression

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News