Keyword: Fethullah Gulen
Fethullah Gülen is a Chance for Humanity: His Inclusive Perspective for Sustainable Global Triangulation
The basic values that mark the twenty-first century are modernism, pluralism, individualism, and religion. Some claim that modernity embraces individual and social life as a whole, and that it has created new forms of religious, cultural, and political pluralism. There is no doubt that the world today is in need of dialogue between cultures and civilizations more than at any other time; this is of the utmost urgency.
The Gulen Movement has become Turkey’s most significant export
The Gulen movement has become a global movement. In other words, it is Turkey’s most important export. When you cross boundaries, you have to watch the balance. His statement on the flotilla incident was both domestic and international. However, we must not forget that Gulen does not recommend that people fight those in authority. His statements disturbed both the government and the conservatives in Turkey.
Kemalo-Islamists versus civil society and Hizmet
İHSAN YILMAZ When summarizing the recent Cabinet meeting to correspondents, the speaker of the Cabinet, Bülent Arınç, referred to a religious concept, “fitnah” (sedition). He was implying that the Hizmet movement was engaged in an illegitimate psychological media campaign against his government. He even a recited a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) on fitnah […]
Prof. Ergil: Gülen is in general a very bashful person
Fethullah Gülen’s general conduct is modest. He does not consider himself superior to anybody else, and he holds tolerance in the highest regard. The way that these values reveal themselves in his personal conduct are that Gülen listens carefully to others before he begins to speak. He is also in general a very bashful person.
Gülen ‘speechless’ on gov’t action plan against Hizmet movement
Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gülen has described himself as “speechless” and expressed his disappointment about a National Security Council (MGK) decision in 2004 signed by the government and recommending an action plan against Hizmet movement. A secret national security document recently discovered by the Taraf daily has revealed that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK […]
Gülen urges Hizmet members to defend prep schools in civilized way
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has urged followers of the Hizmet movement to insist on the “right and logical” and defend prep schools, which the Turkish government has said it will shut down despite tremendous public outrage. In a speech broadcast by herkul.org, a website that usually publishes his speeches, Gülen said not insisting on […]
Turkish daily exposes secret plot against Gülen endorsed by gov’t
A secret national security document recently discovered by a Turkish daily has revealed that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government signed up to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet or Gülen movement. The Taraf daily published a document on Wednesday prepared by the National Security Council (MGK) on Aug. 25, 2004, persuading […]
Islamic scholar Gülen calls for ‘reasonability’ in prep school row
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has called on the government to act “reasonably” in its plan to close test prep schools, adding that they were the ones receiving a “slap,” in a veiled reference to a statement from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. You have to defend it without making concessions in the language you use,” Gülen said in an apparent message to members of the “Hizmet” [Service] movement.
Professor Ori Z. Soltes: ‘Fethullah Gülen wants to be an altruistic servant of others’
Professor Ori Z. Soltes, author of ‘Embracing the World: Fethullah Gülen’s Thought and Its Relationship to Jalaluddin Rumi and Others,’ explains how Gülen’s perception of Sufism is grounded particularly in the work of thinkers such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Said Nursi, but is also grounded in the idea of selflessness.
Fethullah Gülen urges followers to stick to path despite attacks
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen called on his followers on Monday to “just keep walking and not stop” in the face of controversial government plans to abolish privately-funded educational institutions known as dershanes, which assist medium and high school students to prepare for national college and university admission examinations.
Why Gülen movement teachings attractive to followers?
The Gülen Movement arose among pious men and women who wanted a modern interpretation of religion. In the dynamics of the transformation of the movement, the social milieu also played an important role. The movement became a spiritual refuge for those who searched for an interpretation where Islam was in harmony with modernity. The followers of the Gülen Movement do not describe themselves as a political movement.
Turkish PM Erdoğan launches another war [in Turkey]
Turkey’s Islamic camp is more diverse than one would think. In fact, the traditions that Erdoğan and Gülen come from have almost always been distinct and different from each. The former has been more explicitly Islamist, at times anti-Western and anti-Semitic. The latter, the line of Gülen, which goes back to scholar Said Nursi (1878-1960), has rather stayed closer to center-right parties and have been more friendly to the West and also other “Abrahamic” faiths.
Fethullah Gülen’s message to PM Tayyip Erdoğan regarding consultants [in 2005]
Mehmet Gündem: If you were to write a letter or send a message to the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, what would you tell him? Fethullah Gülen: “Do not be content with employing consultants only from among the admirers of your party. Do not only speak with your own organizations. Benefit from the wise people who love Turkey; because they act objectively, and seek no personal gain.”
Gülen movement’s engagement with political processes
Fethullah Gülen is often portrayed as the quintessential idealist, relaying on spirituality, ideas and engagement rather than political power. Gülen, in fact, is a far more complicated man than such a simplistic portrayal would lead us to believe. He has an astute sense of hard and soft power and understands power in terms of its various components and limits.
