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

10 unanswered questions about the Dec. 17 operation

Would we have learned about the endemic corruption if there was no conflict between the government and the Hizmet movement?

Azeri NGOs harshly criticize Zeynalov’s deportation from Turkey

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, founder of the youth group Positive Changes, said in an interview with Today’s Zaman that Zeynalov’s deportation from Turkey has the potential to damage the country’s international reputation. “For democratic countries, freedom of speech is the main pillar of free media. We cannot speak about stable democracy in states where this pillar is not strong. The governments who are shaking this pillar might cast a serious shadow over all of the positive work they have been doing for a long time,” Hajiyev said.

Turkey’s crisis deepens

Therefore, it is not surprising the attempted coup in Turkey aroused such concern and reaction. But to use it as an exercise in settling political scores with related or unrelated enemies will only further inflame the situation. There are reports that the Erdogan government had already prepared lists for purges and suspensions, and the failed coup has brought forward the whole exercise.

Gülen: PKK employing tactics similar to those of Feb. 28

For some months, the PKK has misinterpreted the remarks of Gülen regarding the solution to Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish problem and is using manipulation tactics similar to those employed during the military intervention of 1997 against Gülen movement. 9 January 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL Well-respected Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ […]

‘I admire Fethullah Gulen’s vision of a world that’s different from the one we have’

I appreciate that he’s [Fethullah Gulen] an Islamic thinker who spoke out after the attacks on September 11, immediately. In our country, for years after September 11 people kept saying, ‘why aren’t the Muslims speaking up’, and he did speak up but he wasn’t broadcast. He didn’t have the microphone in his mouth, so to speak. And I always regretted that because he was one who did.

Turkey detainees tortured, raped after failed coup, rights group says

JASON HANNA and TIM HUME Captured military officers raped by police, hundreds of soldiers beaten, some detainees denied food and water and access to lawyers for days. These are the grim conditions that many of the thousands who were arrested in Turkey face in the aftermath of a recent failed coup, witnesses tell Amnesty International. […]

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

Does Erdogan want to be Putin or sultan?

Gülen resorts to UN to investigate Turkey’s coup

Why are they becoming terrorists?

Is it civil disobedience or passive resistance?

Canberra followers of Fethullah Gulen afraid to return to Turkey

Zaman Media Group receives 5 awards from WAN-IFRA

Ex-diplomats detained over Gülen links subjected to severe torture, says deputy

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News