BBC Interviews Fethullah Gulen (Powerful but reclusive Turkish cleric)
Date posted: January 27, 2014
Tim Franks – BBC Newshour, Pennsylvania
– Speaking to the BBC’s Newshour, Fethullah Gulen said: “It is not possible for these judges and prosecutors to receive orders from me.”
– Fethullah Gulen has been called Turkey’s second most powerful man. He is also a recluse, who lives in self-imposed exile in the US.
– But now, the BBC has had exclusive access to the Muslim cleric. I travelled with Guney Yildiz from the BBC Turkish Service to a remote part of Pennsylvania to meet the man.
– In the interview, Mr Gulen denied using his influence to start investigations into alleged corruption among senior members of Mr Erdogan’s AK Party which have led to a number of police commissioners being sacked and to some of Mr Erdogan’s allies being arrested.
– Fethullah Gulen may be, as the former US ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey told me, Turkey’s second most powerful man – an Islamic cleric who sits atop a movement with perhaps millions of followers, worth perhaps billions, with a presence, often through its high-achieving schools, in 150 countries.
– “It is not possible for these judges and prosecutors to receive orders from me. I have no relation with them. I don’t know even 0.1% of them.”
Click the source link below to read the entire story.
Erdogan at UN urges global action against preacher
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday demanded at UN speech international action against the US-exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of orchestrating an aborted coup d’etat against him. Gulen, who fled Turkey for Pennsylvania and has been active in religious dialogue and charity, strongly denies Erdogan’s charges that he organized the July military coup attempt, which quickly collapsed.
The Hizmet Community
Ahmet Turan Alkan 12 October 2010 It does not matter whether it is called a community or Hizmet: This movement has very powerful dynamics and despite the huge amount of doubts and reservations which are being sown about it, it has an “open” nature and it can be clearly and easily understood – as its […]
This is too much! [About the Lies and Slanders directed to Gulen movement]
Prime minister said during the fourth ordinary general meeting of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) in March of 2012:
“You are not backed by dark forces. You are not backed by the mafia, gangs, junta regimes. You are not backed by the bankers in Galata. You did not take advantage of the sources of the Treasury or public banks. You did not act according to an ideology. You did not surrender to the pressures and roadblocks. You only trusted in the people. Because you only relied on people, you are great and make this country great.”
Fethullah Gulen will be awarded the prestigious Manhae Grand Prize
The Asian columnist Abderrahim El Allam and the renowned Turkish educator Fethullah Gulen will be awarded the prestigious Manhae Grand Prize for this year. The Society for the Promotion and Practice of Manhae’s Thoughts (Manhae Foundation) announced on Mar. 3 the winners of the Manhae Prize in three categories; peace, practice and culture.
Why Fethullah Gulen will never support a coup?
I consider that it is very illogical and unsubstantiated to blame a personality and implicitly the followers of his teachings for an action that is a potential source of a lot of human deaths, destruction and chaos. A similar philosophy of respect and love for everything due to their real Source, the Creator, could be one of our vital prescriptions that is essential against all types and sources of ferocity which we unfortunately witness in the world today.
Turkey’s Gulen Demand – The U.S. shouldn’t extradite the exiled Turk without better evidence
Turkey is demanding that the U.S. extradite Fethullah Gulen whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating this month’s failed military coup. “The evidence is crystal clear,” PM Yildirim told the Journal Tuesday, adding that Washington’s request for evidence of Mr. Gulen’s guilt is superfluous “when 265 people have been killed.” If that’s Mr. Yildirim’s standard of proof, Washington should deny the request.
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