Fethullah Gulen on a Global Scale


Date posted: June 22, 2013

James C. Harrington, founder [director] of the Texas Civil Rights Project and professor at the University of Texas at Austin Law School, spoke to a crowd of students, lawyers, judges, and local business people about his new book: Wrestling with Free Speech, Religious Freedom, and Democracy in Turkey: The Political Trials and Times of Fethullah Gulen. Harrington discussed recent changes in Turkey’s legal structure as part of the Gulen Institute’s ongoing lecture series, pointing to the result of the Fethullah Gulen trial as a pivotal victory in the nation’s struggle for civil liberties.

Before turning his attention to Turkey’s recent constitutional amendments, James C. Harrington briefly introduced its faltering history of political change: namely, the series of military coup d’états that began in 1960. He suggested that Fethullah Gulen’s indictment can only be properly understood against this backdrop. And considering the historical tensions between democratic rule and military power in Turkey, Harrington considers Gulen’s ultimate acquittal astounding. The verdict should be viewed as a “huge victory for the Turkish people,” Harrington claimed. He then enumerated the various changes to the Turkish legal system that have resulted from the constitutional referendum of 2010, which he praised as “essentially a Bill of Rights” for the country.

Fethullah Gülen started the movement in Turkey in the 1980s as an education and service movement. He created schools that served as alternatives to the Madrassa schools and allowed girls to get an education.

“It [education] is the great leveler in the United States,” says Harrington. Teachers have the most important job in our society.

“The greatest effect that the movement has had in Turkey is democracy,” says Harrington.

Harrington says that the United States could learn from the Gulen Movement to engage in dialogue again.

“We are not engaged right now as a society in dialogue,” says Harrington. “It is awful what is going on.” It may be hard to engage in dialogue, but we need to compromise.

Tags: | |


Related News

More than 60 countries attend panel organized by GYV at UN

Representatives of more than 60 countries attended a panel discussion organized by the İstanbul-based Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) at UN headquarters in New York.

Hizmet Movement: Partners We Want

A Turkish political, non-governmental, civil society organisation, Hizmet Movement, has made commendable contributions in Nigeria’s socio-economic life. The movement, which began in the late 1960s, particularly focuses on education, charity and dialogue, which it believes are the remedies to ignorance, poverty and disunity.

Thunder’s Enes Kanter in London after detainment in Romania over politics

Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter, who said he was detained in Romania on Saturday morning after his passport was seized by the Turkish government, has been allowed to leave the country and is in London, the NBA said.

State Department: US concerned by rhetoric from Turkey on Russian envoy killing

John Kirby, spokesman of the US State Department, said “Secretary [Kerry] has raised concerns about some of the rhetoric coming out of Turkey with respect to American involvement or support, tacit or otherwise, for this unspeakable assassination yesterday because of the presence of Mr. Gülen here in the United States.”

Philip Clayton on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

Dr. Philip Clayton is the Ingraham Professor of Theology at Claremont School of Theology. He received dual PhDs from Yale in philosophy and theology and held posts at Williams College and the California State University, as well as guest professorships at the University of Munich, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard University. He is a leading advocate for interreligious dialogue, comparative theologies, and the internationalization of the science-religion dialogue. He authored or edited 22 books.

Hizmet really has expanded my understanding of what it means to be human.

Kenneth Hunter is the Principal of the Prosser Career Academy High School. He studied theology at Chicago Loyola University and taught world religions in high schools. He served as the chairperson of Illinois State Board of Education Language Arts Assessment Advisory Council (2002-2012). He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago.

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

Opposition leader Destici: Since when has exposing graft been a crime?

Disregard call to close Turkish schools – Proprietors tell Nigerian govt

Guinean president thanks officials from Turkish schools for educational efforts

If you do not stand against injustice

Fethullah Gülen’s Statement on the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

A major scandal by the Mukhabarat state

South African, Kenyan leaders show support for Turkish schools

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News