I am concerned: Erdoğan and elections

Current developments are disturbing. It does not take an oracle to guess that when the elections get even closer, the country will move further towards insanity if Erdoğan does not change his stance on a number of issues and cease his ferocious rhetorical tactic of designating every critic a traitor. Hrant Dink was assassinated as a result of such a campaign of hate.

Fethullah Gülen’s message to the International symposium “Ijtihad and Qiyas: The richness of Islam”

Ijtihad and Qiyas present a significant field of expansion for the potential treasury that transcends time and space as it is found in the Book and the Sunna. We will never run out of solutions and answers as long as these rich sources are available with their doors wide open for those who are able to benefit from them.

Corruption investigation: Questions that will hound PM Erdoğan

Everyone is wondering now what is behind the corruption investigation, and the first “suspect” to come to many minds is the Islamist Gülen movement. Tensions between this group and the AKP have been rising over the years, and boiled over recently due to the prep-school issue – a matter that has received wide media coverage.

The Gülen movement denies this but the vitriol flying between daily Zaman, which is close to Gülen, and Yeni Şafak, which is staunchly pro-AKP, is enough to give one a sense of the bitter struggle involved.

Newly-released journo offers insider view at victims of Turkey Purge

Briefly detained for taking photos of the street next to the Istanbul’s Gayrettepe Police Station, the journalist Tuğba Tekerek has talked about her detention period, shedding lights on what people, jailed as part of the government’s ever-increasing crackdown on the Gülen Movement, get through behind bars.

Fethullah Gulen Condemns the Terrorist Attack in Lahore, Pakistan and Extends Condolences to Relatives of Victims

I have learned with grief about the horrible terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan that took 70 lives, majority of whom women and children, and injured over three hundred people on a children’s playground. I condemn this attack in the strongest terms and on this sad occasion I reiterate my condemnation of all forms of terror regardless of their perpetrators or their stated purposes.

Deporting Turkish teachers – Why can’t we separate politics from education?

The act of sending to Turkey over 400 Turkish citizens working and studying in the Pak-Turk International School system is highly condemnable. They have been living in Pakistan since 1995 and this is their home now. Their kids were born and brought up in Pakistan. It is heart-wrenching to see that they are suddenly being treated like terrorists.