Fethullah Gulen promotes democracy (CBS News)


Date posted: April 23, 2014

Fethullah Gulen promotes tolerance, interfaith dialog, and above-all: he promotes education. And yet he’s a mystery man — he’s never seen or heard in public — and the more power he gains, the more questions are raised about his motives and the schools.

Fethullah Gulen’s embrace of Western values has helped to modernize Turkey.

Abdulhamit Bilici, general manager of the Cihan News Agency in Istanbul said: Until early 90’s Islamic movement had the problem with the concept of secularism, democracy and other universal concepts.

So Fethullah Gulen was the one of the pioneers in the sense he said in the early 9o’s: “Turkey will not turn from democracy”
Democracy and Islam of course are compatible.


Related News

İstanbul Transportation Authority cancels bus line to Fatih University

Amid growing examples of discrimination against the Hizmet movement, the İstanbul Transportation Authority (İETT) canceled one bus line to Fatih University, which is considered to be affiliated with the Hizmet movement. An official from İETT, İsmihan Şimşek talked to Today’s Zaman and admitted that the 76F bus line had been canceled, but dismissed the idea that the decision deliberately targeted Fatih University. According to her, following analysis of demand for bus services in the region, the 76F bus line was discontinued while two other lines, HT18 and 418, continue to run with stops at Fatih University.

Gülen makes donation to needy Myanmar Muslims

Turkish Islamic scholar and intellectual Fethullah Gülen has donated $10,000 to support Myanmar Muslims who have long faced discrimination in the Asian country and have been targeted in killings by local Buddhists. Gülen donated $10,000, earned from the sales of his books and audio recordings, to leading Turkish charity association Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody […]

Mr. Gulen is trying to interpret the broad humanistic principles of the Qur’an for the modern world

Mr. Gulen reminds me of other important figures in the 20th and now early 21st century thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. who also translate their religious traditions into an idiom that made sense to people who wanted to live peacefully and in harmony with their neighbors and their wider community.

AK Party government removing critical voices from state bodies

Many bureaucrats who are just doing their jobs and have no affiliation with any political groups now face [the prospect of] being dismissed with a claim of having links to the Hizmet movement. However, it is widely known that many of the bureaucrats discharged from their posts do not have any links with the movement,” Arslan said.

Gülen’s lawyers slam Erdoğan’s ‘slanderous’ unsolved murders remarks

The lawyers of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen have denounced recent statements by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in which he held the Hizmet movement responsible for some unsolved murders in Turkey.

Prep school students dominate LYS university entrance exam

FEM, Körfez and Maltepe dershanes associated with faith-based Hizmet Movement (also known as Gülen Movement) dominated top spots in this year’s exams. Ö. Furkan Parmak, who received the highest score in the TM (Turkish-Math)-1, TM-2 and TM-3 categories in the LYS exam, studied for the exam at the Maltepe prep school in Ankara.

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

At least 275 including elderly woman detained over Gulen links over past day

Mississippi group, national officials denounce ISIS

Turkey’s Brain Drain and the Disappearing Academic Freedom

UN takes Turkish school as model in Mali

Former US Ambassador Ricciardone: Hizmet members not terrorists

Fethullah Gulen Issues Strong Condemnation of ISIS

Jailed teacher dies of cancer in Turkish prison

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News