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.

 


Related News

The Encyclopedia of Islam and hate speech

Erdoğan’s obvious target was Fethullah Gülen, but it is clear that he also attacked anyone who doesn’t think like him with phrases such as “false prophets,” “fake mystics” and “so-called scholars.” This denigration is problematic especially in terms of secularism. Indeed, the prime minister hurls gross insults at religious interpretations that diverge from his own. In his capacity as a prime minister, he imposes his beliefs and acts onto those who do not think like him. One step beyond these remarks would be the prime minister’s supporters’ resorting to violence against those he places on the bull’s eye.

Three Turkish diplomats seeking asylum in Germany after coup

At least three Turkish diplomats, reportedly including one military attache, are seeking asylum in Germany in the wake of the failed military coup in Turkey, German media cited government sources as saying. That would likely further strain tense ties between Ankara and Berlin after Turkey was outraged by a resolution passed by Germany’s parliament that declared the 1915 massacre of Armenians to be genocide.

First Documentary on the Hizmet Movement

By Tasmin Mahfuz At the SVA theatre in New York City, the Peace Islands Institute sponsored an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary, “Love is a Verb.” Director Terry Spencer Hesser started the film three years ago when she was working on a travel series for PBS. The film takes viewers on a journey to […]

Fethullah Gulen responds to videocassette allegations

March 28, 2013 A TV channel started a defamation of Fethullah Gulen in June 1999 in Turkey based on a montage videocassette. Below is an phone interview with Mr. Gulen by famous anchor Reha Muhtar of Show TV. Gulen in this interview answers all the accusations such as penetrating the state institutions, bringing Sharia to […]

Now it is time to answer

All Cemaat did was to oppose to the closing of test-preparation centers… The corruption investigation that erupted after, is billed to Cemaat by the PM himself.

Georgia refuses refugee status to detained ‘Gülen school manager’

Georgia’s Ministry of Refugees has refused to grant a refugee status to Mustafa Emre Çabuk, a manager at the Private Demirel College, a school linked to Turkish opposition political figure Fethullah Gülen. Mr Çabuk was detained in Tbilisi on Turkey’s request.

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

New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan visited Turkish Cultural Center in Manhattan

Hizmet movement to address Armenian issue

Five new mosque-cemevi projects on the way

We could not have imagined so many insults

Atyrau student wins silver in Brazil research competition

EU report expresses concern about purge against Gülen movement

Erdogan – Turkey’s desperate president

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News