Islamic scholar Gülen warns Hizmet movement against possible plots


Date posted: September 6, 2013

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has warned volunteers of Hizmet, a social movement known for its cultural and educational activities around the world, against possible plots aiming to portray the movement as a criminal network by placing illegal materials in houses and institutions affiliated with the movement.

With Turkey going through a turbulent time regarding reverberations of the protracted conflict consuming Syria and other related problems in Turkish domestic and foreign policy, Gülen warned against plans that aim to cause entrenched problems in Turkey’s socio-political landscape by creating deep polarization among social and political actors.

“For instance, some people could place weapons or drugs at houses and institutions [affiliated with Hizmet] to pave the way for legal probes and an enduring smear campaign against the movement,” Gülen said, in an implicit reference to the efforts of clandestine organizations targeting the Hizmet movement.

A plot allegedly devised by an illegal group within the Turkish military and uncovered in 2009 suggested that the group planned to discredit the Gülen movement in ways similar to those described by the scholar.

An indictment concerning the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which prosecutors say also targeted the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), revealed that according to the plot, religious communities were to be framed in the public eye as “terrorist organizations” through subversive plans.

Members of the military were to plant unlicensed weapons, ammunition and narcotics in homes, schools and other institutions owned by the followers of the Hizmet movement. Police raids at these houses would result in the arrest of those individuals. The public would then start believing that religious communities had “terrorist intentions,” according to the plot.

Retired Col. Dursun Çiçek, who had his signature on the plot, was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on Aug. 5 in the trial of the Ergenekon terrorist organization on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

Source: Today's Zaman , September 05, 2013

Tags: | | |


Related News

Fethullah Gulen on Israel and Jews

In an interview with the Atlantic magazine in August 2013, Gulen stated that “I had a chance to get to know practitioners of non-Muslim faiths better, and I felt a need to revise my expressions from earlier periods. “I realized and then stated that the critiques and condemnations that are found in the Quran or prophetic tradition are not targeted against people who belong to a religious group,” but “can be found in any person.”

Does the Gülen (Hizmet) Movement Deny the Armenian Genocide?

We have certainly been scapegoated, and enduring an ongoing collective trauma, with no end in sight. The fact that the Turkish state could label innocent people guilty, and punish them for their association (even tangential) with the Gülen Movement, opened the majority of our eyes. If they could do this to us, it must be true that they did it to other minority groups (Kurds, Alevis) and certainly to the Armenians.

Kimse Yok Mu conducts cataract surgeries in Nepal

Kimse Yok Mu, an international charity organization operating in 113 countries of the world, helped 68 Nepalese people who cannot see due to cataract in their eyes.

A Muslim voice to be heeded

The majority of Muslims openly and loudly reject violent extremism regardless of the religious or ethnic identity of the perpetrator, but that is not what the Western media focuses on. If we closely look into a broad poll, we will see hundreds of Muslim leaders denouncing terrorism, and one of these Muslim voices that we don’t listen to is Fethullah Gülen.

An Eye-Opening Trek Into Turkish Society

WALTER RATLIFF* In Gaziantep, Turkey, the children at a local orphanage were recently asked to write about what they wished for most in life. The exercise was designed to help them think about their goals for the future. However, one child took the answer in a different direction: “I wish my parents could come back […]

M. Fethullah Gülen: educator, mystic, peacebuilder

Remarkably, President Erdogan has zero evidence to back up his charge that Mr. Gülen was behind the failed coup. If extradited to Turkey, Mr. Gülen would appear before a kangaroo court and be sentenced to death.

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

The 14th Annual International Language and Culture Festival, organized by Raindrop Foundation

Kimse Yok Mu gives away meat aid to six thousand Afghan families

Germany: Turkish Intel’s spy list may be deliberate provocation

Gülen interview received high praise from intellectuals, NGOs, politicians

Ex-Pentagon advisor says Turkey is heading towards civil conflict, if not civil war

Fatih University wins European Universities Championship

Today’s Zaman celebrates sixth anniversary

Copyright 2022 Hizmet News