The Anatolians are coming

Mustafa Akyol
Mustafa Akyol


Date posted: October 13, 2011

Mustafa Akyol / Wednesday, October 5, 2011

If you want to get an idea of how much Turkish civil society has flourished recently, just visit this address on your browser: www.anatolianfestival.org. It is the website of the “Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival” that will be held this upcoming weekend in Costa Mesa, California. Probably the largest nongovernmental “Turkish event” so far in the United States, it is quite impressive. In a huge area expected to be visited by tens of thousands, icons of Turkish culture will be displayed via impressive installations, concerts, conferences and eateries.

I emphasized the civil society aspect of this big event, for it is organized by none other than the “Hizmet” (Service) movement, which is inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gülen, Turkey’s most influential spiritual leader. As the promoter of an interpretation of Islam that is theologically conservative, politically moderate and culturally tolerant, the Gülen Movement, as it is also sometimes called, has become gradually global since the early 1990s and has opened hundreds of schools and other institutions around the world.

I know that the very concept of a “Muslim movement” is toxic to some ears these days, as any inspiration from Islam is supposed to be inherently authoritarian, intolerant and even violent. But the Gülen Movement seems to be the perfect antidote to that misperception. Their thought excludes the calls for an “Islamic state” and rather seeks religious freedom under the secular state. Their works focus on not challenging the West, Israel, or other “infidels,” but rather raising pious individuals who are hoped to be exemplary figures for Islam. And they look at other religions not as enemies, but as different shades of the same truth.

Some of the talks scheduled in the Anatolian Festival underline this ecumenical vision of the Gülen Movement. One of the titles reads “Cultural Legacy of Armenians in Anatolia and in the Ottoman Empire.” Another one is about “The Scriptural Foundations of Muslim-Jewish Dialogue and Coexistence in Muslim and Jewish Sacred Texts.” I, too, will give two talks there on the weekend about “the exceptional story of Turkish Islam” as a part of my three-week-long book tour in the United States.

This inclusion of the Armenian and Jewish cultures in the “Anatolian” concept is worth pondering, for it tells something about the cultural codes of some of the makers of “New Turkey” and how they differ from the codes of “old” (i.e., Kemalist) Turkey.

In fact, the term “Anatolian” was used as a derogatory term by the Kemalists for decades. They regarded themselves as enlightened urbanites, whereas they saw the Anatolians as parochial masses kept ignorant by religion.

However, the “modernity” of the Kemalists was defined by a zealous Turkish nationalism, which rested on a nasty history of Turkey’s “Turkification.” The ethnic cleansing of the Ottoman Armenians by the secular Young Turks, Atatürk’s “population exchange” with Greece and the military’s forceful assimilation of the Kurds were all manifestations of the same monist paradigm.

The Anatolia-based conservatives were partly influenced by this century-long paradigm, too. But their very cultural conservatism helped them preserve some “Ottoman” values and helped them grow more respectful to the non-Turkish cultures of Turkey, ranging from Armenians to Greeks, or from Jews to Kurds. (That can’t be said for the whole Islamist movement, unfortunately, for their political reaction to Israel misleads some of them to anti-Semitism.)

That is why those who believe in pluralism should welcome the coming of the Ottoman-minded “Anatolians” – and I mean not just to the Los Angeles area this weekend, but also to the Turkish Republic of this century.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=the-anatolians-are-coming-2011-10-05


Related News

People Of All Faiths Come Together For The Library’s Muslim Journeys

Ben Burdick  “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” —Rumi This fall, the Lakewood Public Library will be hosting a series of programs that will bring to light the cultural, historical and spiritual lives of Muslims in […]

West Hartford State Rep. Receives ‘Statesman of the Year Award’

“I’m deeply honored to have been selected to receive this recognition from the Peace Island Institute, an organization that is committed to protecting children, safeguarding the environment, and promoting peaceful coexistence,” Fleischmann said in a statement.

‘I like the vitality of the participation and the vitality of hospitality within the Hizmet Movement’

I believe, certainly in the United States as I’m experiencing the Hizmet Movement, I’m experiencing extraordinary hospitality, a great warmth of people, a genuine spirit, an openness, a compassionate style.

Critics say Turkish government using US mosques to play politics, spy on foes

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent re-election is fueling concerns about his growing powers not just in Turkey but here in the U.S., according to experts who believe he’s determined to spread his controversial brand of Islamist-nationalistic fervor through a network of mosques and religious centers.

America Shouldn’t Give up Fethullah Gülen to Turkey

Erdoğan played the failed coup rather like Adolf Hitler used the Reichstag fire: as a fortuitous opportunity to crush critics as well as enemies. Indeed, there were suggestions that the Erdoğan government was aware of the plot but chose to allow plotters to proceed in hopes of reaping political gain.

Cleric Accused Of Plotting Turkish Coup Attempt: ‘I Have Stood Against All Coups’

“If they ask me what my final wish is,” Gulen added, “I would say the person who caused all this suffering and oppressed thousands of innocents, I want to spit in his face.” When asked if he was referring to Erdogan, he replied: “It can’t be anyone else. He is the oppressor.”

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

Bosnian Arrest of ‘Gulenist’ School Head Sparks Extradition Fears

Religion and war culture discussed in Vienna

[Hizmet’s] Prep schools and civilized debate

Turkey: Babies behind bars

How Erdoğan painted himself into a corner

Turkish feast in Madagascar

Lack of tolerance and democracy

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News