Police raid building Fethullah Gülen resided in 55 years ago
Date posted: December 13, 2016
Edirne police, joined by a group of gendarmes, stormed a building in the city where US-based Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen resided in 55 years ago when he worked as an imam at the famous Üç Şerefeli Mosque.
The government accuses Gülen of orchestrating a coup attempt on July 15, while he denies any involvement.
The building where Gülen stayed from 1959 to 1961 served as the headquarters of the Trakya Şükrüpaşa Education and Culture Foundation until the institution was completely shut down under the post-coup emergency rule declared after July 15.
The police and gendarmes left the building after a search during which they broke some cabinets and walls to find allegedly hidden compartments.
In my research, I have been on the inside living with his followers while teaching English at one of the schools. Religion is not taught. It is not in the curriculum. The idea that these are jihadist madrases, or that Gülenists are extremists or terrorists is beyond absurd as anyone who knows them will attest.
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