Keyword: Hizmet and politics
New Constitution should have no barriers to mother tongue education
11 March 2012 / BÜŞRA ERDAL, ABANT The 26th meeting of the Abant Platform, which discussed problematic areas of the constitutional drafting process, suggested in its final declaration on Sunday regarding education being given in languages other than Turkish — one of the most contentious issues that needs to be addressed in the new constitution […]
Abant talks on constitution
MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK, March 12, 2012 This year’s Abant Platform, held from March 9 to 11 in the northwestern province of Bolu, tackled the pressing issue of shaping Turkey’s new constitution. A broad range of intellectuals, lawyers, political leaders and journalists discussed the problematic areas of the constitutional drafting process. The new constitution, about which […]
New constitution must bear spirit of Abant
ABANT — Turkey has long been trying to rid itself of the remnants of the Constitution of 1982, which was the product of the military coup of September 12, 1980, as it goes through a process of confronting and settling accounts with military tutelage and coups. Bülent Keneş, Sunday March 11, 2012 Almost all political […]
Debating the constitution
Mümtazer Türköne, 12 March 2012 I attended the debates on a new constitution over the weekend. The environment that the Abant Platform offers is intense and rich. Opposite ideas and views meet there, and holders of these views debate matters. Communicating directly with those who hold different views, reacting to their views instantly and reviewing […]
Abant tackles contentious issue of drafting new constitution
9 March 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL As this year’s Abant Platform tackles the pressing issue of shaping Turkey’s new constitution, a wide spectrum of intellectuals, lawyers, political leaders and journalists are discussing the problematic areas of, and proposing solutions to, the constitutional drafting process. “Deliberations should continue with the spirit of respecting each other’s […]
Gülen denies ‘groundless’ Stratfor claims of pressure on AK Party
8 March 2012 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM Well-respected Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen has denied recent media reports based on leaked e-mails from security analysis company Stratfor that said members of his movement were putting pressure on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in order to control the party. Gülen said through his lawyer […]
Abant Platform to discuss framework of new constitution
5 March 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL The prestigious Abant Platform, which has tackled pressing issues facing Turkey since its establishment in 1998, will aim in its next meeting to contribute to the shaping of Turkey’s new constitution. The 26th Abant meeting, which will be held from March 9 to 11 in Turkey’s northwestern province […]
Does the Gülen movement securitize the Kurdish question?
Turkey’s highly polarized political climate is flooded with conspiracy theories on any given topic. Hence, facts are often lost amid speculations. Recently, a frequent target not only in Turkey but also the West has been the Gülen (Hizmet) movement. Ali Halit Aslan, Friday March 2, 2012 One of the most repeated speculations nowadays is that […]
Who stalls the reforms [in Turkey]?
ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ “A group of people, including businessmen, students and teachers who came all the way from Thailand, traveling 9,000 kilometers to cast their votes in the referendum (on September 12, 2010), are now back to Thailand. Neşet Kahraman, who spent $2,000 on travel in order to cast his vote, said: ‘The referendum was pretty […]
An instructive crisis
The links revealed between the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), which have been maintained by MİT to embrace Kurdish politics and blur the line between legal and illegal activities, were not surprising to anybody because, in terms of its personnel, MİT is still a military organization. ETYEN MAHÇUPYAN, Thursday February […]
The confidence crisis and remaining wounds
I have long been pondering on some questions which are bugging everyone. When an appointed prosecutor launches an investigation into appointed bureaucrats and MİT members’ activities involving a terrorist organization, why should this be described as a “civilian coup”? BÜLENT KENEŞ, Thursday February 23, 2012 While on my way to work on Thursday morning, a […]
Are politics and Hizmet from different walks of life?
The possibility of rivalry or conflict between ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Hizmet (the Gülen movement, which consists of followers of Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen’s ideas), came to the agenda once again when individuals known to be Gülen followers took the side of the judiciary in a debate between the government and […]
The Community has infiltrated the European Court of Human Rights as well!
This title will clearly sound absurd and nonsensical for a normal person. As a matter of fact, it is not intended for the people who, like you, are in perfect mental health and who can think reasonably and normally. It is for those paranoid people who are obsessed with the “Community” (the Hizmet movement, also known as Gulen movement)
The Middle East and Turkish civil Islam’s transformative influence on Islamism
NEW DELHI — I am in New Delhi to present a paper at an international conference called “The Arab Spring: Region and India,” organized by the Center For West Asian Studies of the Jamia Millia Islamia. My paper’s title is “From Islamism to Non-Islamism: Turkish faith-based civil society’s transformative influence on Islamism as an inspiration […]
