Post-Kemalist Turkey and the Gülen Movement


Date posted: December 12, 2013

Taha Özhan

Turkey is a country that is in the process of completing its normalization. In its most basic sense, this is a necessary process that both the society and the state have to go through. The problems the state, in a deep crisis of consolidation, was causing regarding religion, citizens’ language, various economic sectors and even its own institutions ironically constituted the groundwork for the emergence of both civil and illegal groups and their mobilization. The state opposed religion based on truisms of the primitive and positivist Western world, in fact, causing the mobilization of both “Islamists and non-Islamist” religious groups by constantly forcing them to fight for their existence. In other words, the existence of certain organizations that emerged from the problems created by Kemalism in a post-Kemalist Turkey naturally presents problems.

The reflections of this process we call normalization can be seen in various areas from the Kurdish question, to state-religion relations; from military and civil society relations, to economic stabilization.

The institutions that emerged from the problems experienced by ordinary Kurdish citizens because of their identity, which emerged from the problematic state-religion relations that denied the exercise of religion to its pious citizens, which emerged from the monopoly of the control of capital, were bound to experience existential problems once the problems that made their existence possible were resolved.

The Gülen group is a very successful organization that has not been immune to the problems experienced during Turkey’s normalization process. On the contrary, it has been one of those organizations that felt these growing pains more intensely. It has to be understood that no organization in a changing Turkey can expect to do as it did 20 years ago and not have problems.

When the wide spectrum of the Gülen group, as well as its level of interaction with the state, is considered, it is not surprising that the Gülen group would experience these problems differently than all other organizations. What would be expected from a network that extends from export to private secondary schools, from domestic and foreign lobbies to unions, from the media to the syndicate, from universities to global education networks is to actually have thought, more meticulously than most, about “where it would fit” and “what it would mean” for a new Turkey.

The activities mentioned above – only a few of the group’s many activities – while served as a “compensatory power” in an unconsolidated state, only correspond to a “contested power” in the new Turkey. The performance of an organization, whose leader, and by extension the decision-making mechanism, is located in the United States and which functions in diverse fields from education to commerce and politics, demonstrated that it soon will have to make some critical decisions in relation to its future role in the country. As long as the state continues to consolidate, the playing field will continue to narrow and transform. The only way out of this narrowing playing field, for such an organization, without falling into the trap of an existential crisis, is to anticipate the transformation and to transform itself accordingly.

The Gülen Movement was known for the cool-headed decisions it took at the risk of severe criticism during Turkey’s most difficult times. Today, it would be expected that the same movement will display a similar rationality in a changing Turkey.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News , December 13, 2013


Related News

Sen. Schumer & 70+ Senate Colleagues Call on State Dept. to Address ongoing Intimidation of Media and Censorship of the Press in Turkey under President Erdogan’s Administration

Recently, Two Journalists Who Were Vocal Critics of President Erdogan’s Administration and Were Arrested and Detained—Both Individuals Lead Major News Organizations; Prior To That Incident, Many Journalists Lost Their Jobs for Writing Material That Was Critical of President Erdogan and His Administration

The International Justice Conference Hailed A Major Success

Prof. Manuel A. Knoll, from Department of Philosophy, Fatih University in partnership with the support of Abant Platform organized an international three day event regarding pluralism and conflict. Over 50 academicians from around the world got together for ‘Distributive Justice Beyond Rawls and Consensus’ Conference in Fatih University, Istanbul on June 6-8, 2013. Conference was […]

Turkey’s political weather forecast

A statement from the Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) said a decree from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKParti) government was against the Turkish Constitution. The Board was mentioning the government’s Dec. 21 decree, asking prosecutors to inform local administrative authorities about their investigations, which was supposed to be confidential

3 detained Turkish educators and their families handed over to Turkey by Gabon

Three Turkish educators and their families who were arbitrarily detained in Libreville, the capital city of Gabon, were handed over to Turkish officials and taken to İstanbul on Sunday morning.

False reports on Bank Asya breach laws

Earlier reports in the Turkish media had claimed that the government had mulled over a comprehensive investigation into Bank Asya following an ongoing corruption and bribery case. The papers cited the Hizmet movement — with which Bank Asya is affiliated — as the hand behind the police operations into persons close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The same reports implied a retaliatory attack on Bank Asya over alleged abuses within the bank.

Fethullah Gulen, the [Gulen] community, and the prep schools

It is no secret that my bonds of affection with the wise religious leader Fethullah Gulen and his movement go back more than twenty years. I trust that Hocaefendi, with his endless sense of fairness, is aware of this situation. He feels offended firstly because the government signed the National Security Council’s brief without hesitation, and secondly because it has profiled [both him and the movement]. In any case, resisting the closure of the movement’s prep schools is the same as resisting an authoritarian course of events!

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

Gursel Tekin: Gulen’s remarks on the third bridge are valuable

Farewell of Pak-Turk Teachers: Symbolic Burial of a Heart

US Rep. Scott: Gülen movement cannot be designated as “terrorist organization”

Limits of political Islam: the other face of AKP (2)

Filipino ambassador hails Turkish schools

Hakan Şükür’s resignation blamed on lack of intra-party democracy

Emotional farewell for Turkish teachers

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News