Unidentified individuals have graffitied offensive remarks on a wall of the Turkish Cultural Center (TCC) in the city of West Haven, Connecticut.
The graffiti echoes Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hate speech against the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with which the cultural center is affiliated.
The TCC has been serving the Turkish-American community in Connecticut for seven years. Mehmet Elmacı, the coordinator of the organization, told Turkish media outlets that the incident was unprecedented. “We are a cultural center that does not take part in politics. Our goal has been to share Turkey’s cultural heritage with our community. We condemn those individuals who are inspired by Erdoğan’s hate speech toward the Hizmet movement to write offensive remarks on our walls,” he said.
Indeed, just last week a columnist in a pro-government daily argued that officials in certain government institutions have been expelled over their alleged ties to the Hizmet movement. This is no different from a witch hunt. In a civilized society, expelling qualified professionals because of their sympathy for a religious and social movement can only be described as discrimination.
Statement on Chapel Hill Shootings
The Alliance for Shared Values strongly condemns the slaying of the three Muslim students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is heartbreaking to see the loss of young, innocent lives and to see the assault on peace and tolerance we so cherish in the U.S. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased.
Hizmet’s Relations with Other Muslim Communities in the United States
There seems to be some level of disconnection between the Hizmet and the other Muslim communities in the United States. It should be acknowledged that some volunteers or institutions of the Hizmet movement have already achieved a good level of cooperation with other Muslim communities in certain places; nevertheless, such good examples are only local and very limited.
Gülen slams pro-gov’t media for disseminating lies and blasphemy
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen criticized on Monday the pro-government media in Turkey for spinning the truth and disseminating lies while trying to justify senior officials’ blasphemous remarks. In a speech published on herkul.org, Gülen said a true believer can never lie as lying is the characteristic of the non-believer.
Yes, Love Is a Verb!
Because of his [Fethullah Gulen] influence…at risk children are now being educated in hundreds of countries…The sick are being treated…..and the starving are fed….often at great personal risk..
The Hizmet Movement: ‘Terrorist’ or Terrorised?
In the end, when analysing this most recent coup attempt, and judging the Hizmet movement or Fethullah Gulen’s involvement comes down to the simple fact that Hizmet activity revolves around education, charity and dialogue, and underpinning all of its work are love, compassion, equality and positive engagement. Essentially, this is epitomised in the fact that the turkish word ‘Hizmet’ literally means ‘service’.
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