Fethullah Gulen Calls Crackdown ‘Dark Pages’ in History – Responses to World Affairs Council of Philadelphia


Date posted: September 16, 2016

Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Turkey accuses of masterminding July’s abortive coup again condemned the Turkish government crackdown on his supporters, saying Thursday that his “heart is aching.”

In videotaped remarks to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, Fethullah Gulen said the Turkish government is using the attempted coup to justify persecuting his followers, who he said are being “subjected to oppression and tyranny, molestation and unlawful acquisition of their private properties.”


Related News

‘Gulen Movement is a civil society movement, rather than a religious one’

University of Utah professor of political science Hakan Yavuz, Ph.D, gave a lecture followed by a conversation on his latest book “Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gulen Movement“. At the lecture hosted by Rumi Forum Washington D.C., Yavuz argued that the Gulen Movement should not be considered a religious movement, rather, a civil society movement. He […]

Call for Papers – International Gandhi Jayanti Conference 2015

Education is at the heart of the core problems of a society, potential solutions for making a healthy society and for peace building as well. Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace.

Dialogue Institute provides insight in Kansas City area on Turkey

Erdogan contends the failed takeover was inspired by cleric Fethullah Gulen, now in voluntary exile in the U.S. Erdogan is systematically trying to eliminate Gulen’s followers and has asked the U.S. to extradite him. Gulen has emphatically denied any involvement in the coup attempt and has suggested that it was staged as an excuse for Erdogan to stop dissenters. Gulen’s history suggests he is more humanitarian than militant.

How Erdogan is covering up the corruption scandal

In a blunt violation of Turkish laws and ethical norms, authorities removed nearly 100 police chiefs, who were either involved in the graft raids or pose a possible risk to the government. Two additional prosecutors were appointed to supervise the case, a move mostly interpreted by experts as an attempt to control the judicial process. The government has launched an unprecedented witch-hunt in public institutions and continues to purge any bureaucrat it believes could be cooperative with prosecutors in the graft investigation. Four ministers whose names were linked to these investigations refused to step down despite calls from the opposition.

WSJ, Judiciary, Gulen Movement, and the Government

The news I read in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) took me by great surprise. Supposedly, (former Gen. Staff) Ilker Basbug’s imprisonment for life was a message from the Gulen Movement to Erdogan, saying, “Beware! You cannot seek resolution on the Kurdish issue without our permission.” The claim that there was an organizational grouping of members of […]

Gülen calls for respect for the sacred, denounces terrorism

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has called on everyone to respect each other’s sacred values while at the same time strongly condemning the use of violence and engagement in terrorism in so-called attempts to protect these sacred values.

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

Recalling Turkey’s ‘post-modern coup’

Gülen Speaks to Süddeutsche Zeitung daily, warns of on-going witch hunt against Hizmet

Post-coup Turkey sliding into terror regime: Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk

‘Alliance with PKK’ claims latest conspiracy against Gülen movement

International Workshop – Hizmet Movement between Political Islam and Civil Islam

Lawyer: Claims about Gülen followers among ‘jihadist group’ baseless defamation

Islamists lost test with power, Arab and Turkish intellectuals agree

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News