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.
Turkish anti-terrorism police carried out raids in six cities, detaining at least five people with alleged links to al-Qaida
The police raid “is a deliberate attack on the IHH,” said Yasar Kutluay, the group’s secretary general. “They are trying to portray the group as an organization with links to terrorism.” He blamed Israel and Gulen’s supporters, for the operation — a charge Gulen’s movement immediately rejected as “slander and false incrimination.”
The gravest-ever smear
The erstwhile political Islamists — who would frequently utter the slogan “Every day is Ashura and everywhere is Karbala,” referring to the tragic incident in Islamic history when the Prophet Muhammad’s grandsons, Hasan and Husain, as well as those who accompanied them, were ambushed and slaughtered near Karbala in Iraq — apparently stick today to the formula “Every day is a lie and everywhere is a smear.”
Retired ambassadors slam government orders over graft probe
“Will ambassadors tell their foreign colleagues that a corruption investigation started, which includes some members of the government, and that the government found the solution in changing a number of bodies such as the HSYK [Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors] and judicial police regulations?” asked former ambassador Deniz Bölükbaşı.
Importance of Hizmet’s 11-article declaration
As expected, the 11-article declaration by the Journalists and Writers Foundation, of which Fethullah Gülen serves as honorary chair, has attracted attention. The follow-up debates show that this has been remarkably positive and appropriate to prevent disorder.
US says first batch of docs does not constitute extradition request for Gülen
United States (US) Spokesman Mark Toner has said that the first batch of documents sent by the Turkish government did not constitute a formal extradition request for US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Gülen among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people
Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen has made it onto Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. This is the 10th year the magazine has listed its 100 most influential people shaping the world. This year, the magazine put seven cover portraits of “TIME 100” honorees who it said reflect the “breadth […]
Latest News
Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison
Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney
Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement
ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment
New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement
European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests
ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases
Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade
Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet
In Case You Missed It
PKK’s venomous mouthpiece targets US, Gülen
Former director of Turkish schools in Pakistan and his family kidnapped
Hakan Şükür’s resignation: Rebellion of a conscience
Turkey’s Erdogan Is Already Making the Most of His ‘Gift From Heaven’ After Coup Attempt
Imprisoned Gülen followers subject to rape, nail extraction, object insertion: lawyers association
Pro-gov’t journalist proposes torturing jailed Gülen followers to force them to talk
Six heads of organized crime unit dismissed as hundreds relocated in new police purges [just after an operation against al-Qaeda]
