
Prominent Russian scholar Professor Rostislav Ribakov has praised US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen for the schools opened around the world by his supporters, saying that these schools are bringing up a new generation of students who uphold world peace.

A government whistleblower has claimed the government is preparing to shut down schools believed to be close to the Gülen movement, a faith-based grassroots social initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in Turkey on the pretext that the schools are not being properly administered.

Fethullah Gülen’s lawyer has filed a civil lawsuit claiming compensation against Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Harun Kodalak for calling the Turkish Islamic scholar the leader of a terrorist organization, Gülen’s lawyer Nurullah Albayrak announced in a written statement

Several pro-government dailies have run stories with far-fetched allegations that a prestigious peace award was presented to Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen thanks to the sponsorship of a “parallel” — a defamatory term invented by the ruling party to describe Gülen and his sympathizers — foundation, even though the organization was founded in Japan.

Lawyer Nurullah Albayrak, who represents Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has asked in a petition to the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) whether allegations suggesting Gülen’s phones had been wiretapped by the organization are true.

Lawrence E. Carter, the dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, stated that a campaign of slander has bene launched against religious scholar Fethullah Gülen and Hizmet Movement but Turkish people are not stupid to believe such defamations.

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has been presented with a prestigious peace award in recognition of his “life-long dedication to promoting peace and human rights” at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s alma mater.

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College awarded its prestigious 2015 Gandhi King Ikeda Peace Award to Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen in recognition of his life-long dedication to promoting peace and human rights.

I appreciate that he’s [Fethullah Gulen] an Islamic thinker who spoke out after the attacks on September 11, immediately. In our country, for years after September 11 people kept saying, ‘why aren’t the Muslims speaking up’, and he did speak up but he wasn’t broadcast. He didn’t have the microphone in his mouth, so to speak. And I always regretted that because he was one who did.

“The Hizmet Movement and what Mr. Gulen is inspiring is uniting people around spiritual ideals. And I like the idea in your schools that you don’t really teach religion directly; you teach ethics. I think that’s another hopeful sign that out of this spiritual movement you’re bringing people together of different religious-cultural backgrounds, but they’re uniting around a certain ethical principle of love and care for humanity and service of humanity.