Turkey’s prominent journalist Fehmi Koru answered Ece Uner’s questions on Haberturk TV. He also made comments about the AK Party-Gulen Movement conflict and the probability that the Gulen Movement may engage in active party politics.
Koru said, “What you call as the movement is a civil society organization. They let politicians do the daily politics. They have political opinions and they try to influence politics. But they do this by having relations with politicians as they did in the past. It is against the nature of the movement to impose any opinion on the government. If there is sharp irreconcilable disagreement between the movement and the AK Party, they may found a political party. But if they do so, they will lose the advantage of being a [civil society] movement. They will face more criticism when they found a political party.
What lies beneath the prep-school row between AK Party and the Hizmet
It is an open secret that Erdoğan is not targeting the prep schools, but the Hizmet movement that is inspired by the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. People and companies that are sympathetic to the movement operate the majority of Turkey’s prep schools. Like the rest of the educational institutions affiliated with the movement, they are the most academically successful, sending students with outstanding scores to the best schools each year.
Turkish educator says Demirel stood with Turkish schools abroad
Turkish educator Süleyman Alptekin has said that Turkey’s ninth president, Süleyman Demirel, who died on Wednesday at the age of 90, won people’s hearts with his open support for Turkish educators and Turkish schools abroad inspired by the views of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Alptekin was flown back to the country in Demirel’s plane after being seriously injured in an accident in Bangladesh in 1997.
African Union Commission chair supports creation of more Turkish schools
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, said on Tuesday during a visit to Johannesburg that volunteers working for the faith-based Gülen movement — inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen — should continue to build schools and other institutions in Africa.
Separate state and religion
Turkey needs to face the fact that experience gained over the course of almost a century has shown that the marriage of state and religion is detrimental to both. If Turkey is to ever consolidate a liberal and pluralist kind of democracy, state and religion need to be separated, and freedom for believers and nonbelievers alike has to be secured.
Police chief request promotion for taking part in ‘parallel’ witch-hunt
Eskişehir Deputy Police Chief Şakir Engin Korkmaz has filed a letter requesting a sanction banning his promotion be lifted on grounds that he had taken part in the ongoing operation against the so-called parallel state, which has been described as a witch hunt.
Turkey Assails a Revered Islamic Moderate
Though little known in the United States, for many years Mr. Gulen was an unofficial ambassador for Turkey who promoted a moderate brand of Islam. He preached tolerance, meeting with Pope John Paul II and other religious and political leaders, among them Turkey’s prime ministers and presidents. DOUGLAS FRANTZ, August 25, 2000 Onur Elgin, a […]
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