Fethullah Gulen: Turkish Scholar, Cleric — And Conspirator?
A Rare Interview: Jamie Tarabay Meets Turkish Scholar Fethullah Gulen
Date posted: January 8, 2014
Al-Jazeera America reporter Jamie Tarabay interviewed Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen in his home last spring. It was published in The Atlantic last August. Gulen is a Turkish spiritual leader to millions of Turks, both in Turkey and around the world, and the head of the Gulen movement. His network of followers spans the globe, and it has opened academically-focused schools in 90 countries, including the U.S.
Robert Siegel speaks with Tarabay about the interview.
Former US envoys to Ankara say Erdoğan doing great harm to democracy
“Whatever his achievements over the past decade, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is destroying his country’s parlous democracy. That is a profound problem for Turks and Turkey’s Western allies. Staying silent, out of fear that speaking out would harm some short-term interests, risks Turkey’s longer-term stability.”
Is the Gulen Movement an alternative to the state?
Some say, “You [Gülen Movement] are acting as the honorary ambassadors, counselors, and attachés, are you the alternative to the state? My answer is as follows: If some people are taking care of the business in the places where you cannot reach, you have to only admire and compliment them.
Understanding of Muslims in US is limited, says scholar
“Part of what we are doing involves interfaith work,” says Turk, and he brings up the role of the Pacifica Institute in California that does similar work in accordance with the teachings of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. “The same values are taught by Gülen,” Turk says, and adds that students from the Gülen-inspired Hizmet movement attend Bayan Claremont as well. “We are educating the next generation of Islamic scholars and community leaders,” Turk says.
CHP: Anti-Hizmet ops were part of agreement between Erdoğan, military
Main opposition Republican People’s Democratic Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Barış Yarkadaş has said the release of suspects in the historic Ergenekon trial and the government-initiated operations against the Hizmet movement were part of an agreement between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish military.
Volunteer doctors to perform surgeries in Mali under leadership of Kimse Yok Mu
Antalya’s Manavgat Medical Foundation’s (MASADER) volunteers in cooperation with Kimse Yok Mu Foundation (KYM) will perform cataract and fistula, a postnatal disease in women, surgeries in Mali.
How to Interview Fethullah Gulen
Turkey is in the spotlight (again) with TIME magazine’s choices for its 2013 list of the 100 most influential peoplein the world. Turkish spiritual leader Fethullah Gulen and the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan were both listed under the leaders section. Öcalan and Gulen are two enigmas. One lives in self-imposed […]
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