Date posted: September 20, 2016
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday demanded international action against the US-exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of orchestrating an aborted coup d’etat against him.
“I would like to call on all our friends to take the necessary measures against the Fethullah Terrorist Organization in their own countries for the future of their own people and their well-being,” he told the UN General Assembly, referring to Gulen’s movement.
Gulen, who fled Turkey for Pennsylvania and has been active in religious dialogue and charity, strongly denies Erdogan’s charges that he organized the July military coup attempt, which quickly collapsed.
Erdogan told the United Nations that the movement was present in 170 countries, posing a “national security threat” to all of them.
“This terrorist organization is in a deep mental heresy of subduing the whole world, far beyond Turkey,” he said.
“It is evident from our experience that if you do not fight against FETO now, tomorrow may be too late,” he said, referring to the group by an acronym.
Erdogan has pressed the United States to extradite Gulen. US Vice President Joe Biden said on a visit to Turkey that legal experts and courts would need to review evidence against the preacher.
Source: Al Arhttp://hizmetnews.com/sds/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=19805&type=image&TB_iframe=1abiya , September 20, 2016
Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | North America | United Nations | USA |
Since the widespread corruption and bribery investigation became public, thousands of police officers have been reassigned or removed from their posts because of alleged links to the Hizmet movement, inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. In addition to the thousands of police officers, the government has replaced the prosecutors who initiated the investigation as well as dozens of officials at various state institutions, including public prosecutors’ offices.
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has rejected the labeling of the Hizmet movement as a “gang,” saying those who uttered this word committed “traitorous” behavior. The term gang, “örgüt” in Turkish, has become a famous euphemism in Turkey to denote the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and has a negative connotation.
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said Turkey, which was not long ago the envy of Muslim-majority countries with its bid to become an EU member and dedication to being a functioning democracy, is reversing progress and clamping down on civil society, the media, the judiciary and free enterprise under the rule of the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
Dr. Sophia Pandya specializes in women, religion, and globalization. She received her BA from UC Berkeley in Near Eastern Studies/Arabic, and her MA and PhD from UCSB in Religious Studies, with a focus on women and Islam. She co-edited the book titled The GulenHizmet Movement and its Transnational Activities: Case Studies of Altruistic Activism in Contemporary Islam.
Gülen embraces an inclusive and peaceful understanding of Islam. His commitment to dialogue and altruism has inspired the Hizmet Movement. Mr. Gülen and Hizmet participants are known for their commitment to peace, democracy and non-violence, and oppose turning religion into a political ideology.
In videotaped remarks to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, Fethullah Gulen said the Turkish government is using the attempted coup to justify persecuting his followers, who he said are being “subjected to oppression and tyranny, molestation and unlawful acquisition of their private properties.