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.

Tags: Democracy | Fethullah Gulen | North America |

Related News

Cops vs. robbers [in Turkey]

The high-profile officials — whose involvement in bribery and corruption have been disclosed with much media coverage — and those who protect and abet them do not care about how they will be remembered by future generations. They do not feel ashamed about the positions they adopt, and they shamelessly proceed to give the impression of siding with “robbers” in the cops vs. robbers confrontation.

Flautre: Investigation into Taraf daily, journalist over MGK docs ‘scandalous’

Hélène Flautre, the co-chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, has described the launch of an investigation into the Taraf daily and journalist Mehmet Baransu for publishing records of controversial National Security Council (MGK) documents as being “scandalous” and “inappropriate,” adding that she has serious concerns about freedom of the press in Turkey.

“A Model for Peacemaking: In the Footprints of Francis & the Sultan”

Dialogue Institute of the Southwest co-sponsored a video production called “In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan: A Model for Peacemaking”, which aims to advance interfaith dialogue and understanding between Christians and Muslims. This video uses the story of their meeting to help us negotiate our difficult interfaith encounters and other misunderstanding and hostility between peoples.

Extraditing Gülen: A smart move for the PM?

In the latest salvo in his battle for his political life, the Turkish prime minister has started to threaten to bring U.S.-based scholar Fetullah Gülen back to Turkey to face a possible criminal case for his alleged role in what the premier called a “civilian coup plot” attempt. In legal terms, there has been no legal investigation or arrest warrant for Gülen.

Can Erdoğan finish off the Gülen movement?

In other words, this is not a power struggle but a one-sided attack by an increasingly authoritarian leader on a civil society movement critical of the way government rules the nation.
In this asymmetrical fight, the Hizmet movement has nothing to lose. It is composed of individuals who are dedicated to doing something that they believe is for the good of humanity.

PM continues war he already lost

If a statement appearing in the Cumhuriyet daily, where the prime minister was quoted as saying that the “money used [in corruption] belongs to the state, not the people” reflects the truth, then this is a clear acknowledgement of wrongdoing.