Fethullah Gülen lost his friend Prof. Toktamış Ateş, an academic, writer, and eminent democrat


Date posted: January 20, 2013

HizmetNews.COM January 20, 2013

Turkish Professor Toktamış Ateş, also a columnist with the Bugün daily, passed away on Saturday January 19, 2013. Fethullah Gülen expressed his condolences in a statement he released the same day, describing Prof. Ateş an exemplary democrat in academia and media.

Fethullah Gülen:

I am deeply saddened to learn about the death of my friend, distinguished scholar and writer Prof. Dr. Toktamış Ateş, an exceptional member of academia and the media, who rendered great services in spreading the understanding of dialogue and tolerance with his brave pen, smiling face, and reconciling personality; who contributed to, with his firm stance, developing a culture of democracy during difficult times in Turkey.

I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to his wife Nevin Hanımefendi and the grieving family, his relatives, friends and students. May God have mercy on his soul.”

Known as a Kemalist and a secular, Dr. Toktamis Ates posed to the cameras, in an Iftar Dinner in 1995, hand in hand with Mr. Fethullah Gülen, which drew harsh criticism of ultra-secularists.

Having written over 30 books, he also wrote columns for the Cumhuriyet daily for more than ten years. He was most recently writing regular columns for the Bugün daily.  He was among the recipients of the “Tolerance Award” given by the Journalists and Writers Association in 1996.

Gülen recognized his contribution to dialogue, tolerance and democracy in difficult times in Turkey.

Prof. Ateş , in addition to supporting Gülen movement’s activities, wrote a forward to Gülen’s book “Love and the Essence of Being  Human.” Below is an excerpt from his forward:

….. I have to answer such questions as, “Professor, how can you be so close to reactionaries?”; “How do you bear that kind of people?”; “Are you too changing mind?” etc.

I have either written or verbally explained hundreds of times: I am in dialogue with several religious and Shari’ah-oriented people not because I pursue an agreement with them in thought but with the aim of hope of being able to find an answer to the question, “How can we live together despite our differences in thought?” Actually, I already know the answer of this question. But I am rather trying to find out the answer to the question, “How can we practice it in life?” It is this same answer, which Mr. Fethullah Gülen is searching in his book in your hand. The answer to this question can be summarized as “By believing in democracy and being tolerant.”

I am also asked: “Professor, are you aware that there are some people who want to establish a Shari’ah government?” Of course, I am; I am not blind. Furthermore, I am trying to observe them as closely as I can. But I am also trying to distinguish people who pursue a conservative [pious] life style from those who want to establish a Shari’ah government, without feeling any fear.

We are traveling on the same ship. If it sinks we will sink all together. However, our aim is that the ship should not sink. Additionally, an internal conflict will mean the biggest disaster, which we must avoid at all costs.

 

Tags: | | |


Related News

Deutsche Welle: Power struggle between old friends in Turkey

Gülen argued that Muslims should work against “the decline of morality” in society, calling for conservative values like faith and family to be put before modern individualism – but always within the existing secular state structures.

Secular Turks may be in the minority, but they are vital to Turkey’s future

What a decade and a half of AKP experience has shown is that the problem with democracy in Turkey has deep social roots that go way beyond the political power struggles on the surface. Both an authoritarian political culture and conservative social values inhibit the emergence of a pluralist democracy. In the last decade, Muslim conservative elites have shown little interest in establishing a fully fledged democracy. This is not surprising: democracy is largely understood by most Turks to be just about elections.

Twitter users protest plan to close prep schools in Turkey

Turkish Twitter users are in an uproar over a report that the government has drafted a law which would close thousands of private preparatory education centres (known as “dershanes”) across the country. The schools are reportedly a point of tension between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the Gülen movement that runs many of the schools.

Islam’s internal enemies

Caliph Omar, who is renowned for his attention to justice, paid a visit to sacred sites after taking over control of Jerusalem from Governor Sophronius. He visited Masjid al Aqsa and later also wanted to see the Church of Resurrection where, according to Christian belief, Jesus was crucified and prepared for burial. Sophronius, who was walking with Omar, recalled that he performed prayers everywhere he visited and asked him to do the same at the church. Omar rejected the request saying, “If I perform prayer here, Muslims will build a mosque on this very spot.” Instead he found an empty area to the south of the church for prayer, upon which Muslims thereafter erected a mosque named after Omar.

Turkish cleric demands fatwa to amputate hands, feet of Gülen followers

Turkish cleric Nurettin Yıldız demanded a fatwa from Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate suggesting that supporters of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who is accused by the Turkish government and Erdoğan of masterminding a failed coup in July, be executed, their opposing hands and feet be amputated or be exiled instead of keeping them in prisons.

Being partners of the state

The freshly appointed justice minister, using phrases not easily understandable to people in the streets, said, “Neither God nor the state accepts partners.” This statement does not have an Islamic background. Every citizen is a partner of the state. The duty of a government is to perform common tasks in the name of these partners and based on the mandate given to it.

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

South Korean NGO: It’s hard to make sense of what is being done to Kimse Yok Mu

Erdoğan calls on people to show no mercy to Gülen movement

Erdoğan’s Crackdown Takes A Toll On Exchange Students In Turkey

Today’s Zaman’s Mahir Zeynalov leaves Turkey under deportation threat

Turkish Cultural Center in West Haven hit with graffiti in wake of unrest

The Remarkable Scale of Turkey’s “Global Purge”

AFSV Statement on Turkish Government Actions against Free Media

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News