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.
Ex-FM Yakış defends Turkish schools as the torch bearer of Ottoman vision
Yaşar Yakış is a founder and former member of the ruling AK Party (Justice and Development Party) and served as Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2002-2003. Speaking to Bugün Newspaper Yakış on developments pertaining to domestic and foreign policy Yakış emphasizes that the ruling AK Party has drifted off its founding principles.
European Muslims Want Participation, Not Integration: Role of the Gulen Movement
A conference hosted by the Catholic Academy in Stuttgart together with two associations of the Gülen movement (aka Hizmet movement) in Baden-Württemberg, “Süddialog” and “Begegnungen”, focused on Christian and Islamic initiatives in cooperative public welfare efforts. The story gives clues about Gulen movement’s role in Muslim’s integration and participation in Germany. While German politicians continue […]
Cleric Accused Of Plotting Turkish Coup Attempt: ‘I Have Stood Against All Coups’
“If they ask me what my final wish is,” Gulen added, “I would say the person who caused all this suffering and oppressed thousands of innocents, I want to spit in his face.” When asked if he was referring to Erdogan, he replied: “It can’t be anyone else. He is the oppressor.”
Pro-gov’t columnist still threatening fellow journalists
A columnist for the pro-government daily Yeni Şafak, Cem Küçük, continues to target journalists critical of the government for regular intimidation in his column.On Jan. 16, Küçük argued that an operation will be staged against newspapers with ties to the Hizmet movement and that the journalists who work in those newspapers would be brought to trial. He also said that the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) would be tried over its press releases.
Turkish finance minister declines to comment on ‘color lists’
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek on Tuesday declined to comment on a question about claims that the government recruits public sector employees using “color lists” to avoid people affiliated with groups such as the Hizmet movement and critics of the government.
Turkey’s Changing Freedom Deficit
Erdoğan’s government is by no means the first to compel Turkish citizens to hide their preferences and beliefs. Under the secular governments that ruled Turkey from the 1920s to 1950, and to some extent until 2002, pious Turks seeking advancement in government, the military, and even commerce had to downplay their religiosity and avoid signaling approval of political Islam.
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