Gülen calls on followers to adapt to PM’s teaching center closures


Date posted: November 27, 2012

Prominent Turkish religious leader Fethullah Gülen has defied promises by the prime minister to close down preparation schools, many of which are run by the scholar’s followers, calling on members of the movement to create alternatives.

“If they close your homes, you should open dorms. If they close your dorms, you will open new homes. If they close your schools, you will respond by opening a university. And when they close your university, you should open ten schools. You should never stop marching,” Gülen said in a video that was posted at Herkül.org, a website close to the movement.

“It is useless to protest the government’s decision, you should find alternative ways to survive,” he said.

The Gülen community has close relations with several large chains of private teaching centers that prepare students for the university entrance exam.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has previously promised to close such schools by either 2013 or 2014, “regardless of who is hurt by the decision.”

Gülen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania for more than 10 years but remains an important political player in Turkey, was named one of the 10 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, daily Hürriyet has reported.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News November/27/2012

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Twelve questions Turkey’s journalists can’t ask

Erdoğan was born to a relatively poor family in Rize, along the Black Sea. His father was in the coast guard and worked at sea. Erdoğan at one point even sold snacks on the street to make extra cash. He graduated from a religious school in 1973, and immediately embarked on a political career, eventually becoming first mayor of Istanbul. So here’s the question: How did a man like Erdoğan become a billionaire several times over?

‘Fethullah Gulen is one of the leading Islamic thinkers in the world’

I think the Gulen, or Hizmet, Movement represents Islam by, on the one hand, maintaining a strong connection to and being rooted in the Islamic primary sources, such as the Qur’an and the Prophetic teachings, but, at the same time, not neglecting the world around it.

Gov’t pressure to shut down Turkish schools sparks outcry

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government’s attempts to shut down Turkish schools abroad that are affiliated with the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by the teachings of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, have sparked an outcry among opposition figures and diplomats, who criticize the government for “abusing education because of personal hostility.”

Steller: For Turks, post-coup purges make U.S. safe harbor

There’s the political rhetoric — mainly Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants or, in the most recent version, to suspend immigration from countries that have exported terrorism.

Erdoğan’s ‘non-precious’ loneliness

The US and Europe now use Erdoğan’s level of aggression against whomever he targets as an indicator to measure the degree of democratic culture of the Turks. For this reason, as Erdoğan and his government intensify their aggression, the Hizmet movement becomes more respectable and prestigious in the world.

US Professor Carter: Gülen struggles for peace against poverty and terrorism

Professor Lawrence E. Carter , the dean of the martin luther king Jr. International Chapel, has said Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen is giving a struggle for peace across the world with activities inspired by him.

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

A Peace Conference to be held at UN in Geneva

Turkey’s president is using the failed coup as an excuse to snuff out secular democracy

Zaman Stanizai on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

An Interview with Fethullah Gülen

Amnesty laments treatment of Turkey purge victims

Dutch government calls on Turkish community to report threats by supporters of Turkish President Erdogan

Turkish Schools Struggle to Exist in Afghanistan

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News