Two suspects have been arrested in connection with an attempt to set fire to a Turkish cultural centre in the northern Austrian town of Wels, police said on Monday, at a time of heightened tension between Vienna and Ankara. The attack took place in early morning and the suspects, whom police declined to identify, were arrested immediately.
I believe it is unlikely that Gulen was the mastermind behind the dramatic failed coup attempt against Erdogan last week. Of course, in the absence of evidence, so far no one can speak with certainty. Gulen’s social movement probably has well over a million followers or sympathizers who are not under centralized control.
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Foreign Minister Timo Soini [of Finland] have responded to a letter from the Finnish Union of Journalists. The Union’s missive asked the ministers to urge Turkey to avoid extreme measures in the aftermath of July’s failed coup.
“I was approached and asked by a Turkish government official, whether we would be prepared to critically confront the Gulen movement in Berlin,” Michael Müller, mayor premier of the state of Berlin, told the German newspaper Bild. “I rejected the idea and made it very clear that Turkish conflicts could not be waged in our city,” he added.
As a reader of Gulen’s thinking and a keen observer of the movement, I am convinced that they are aware of the viability of multiple approaches to resolve our global issues as well as the locally troubling scenarios. So to accuse and incriminate a movement that is based on the Islamic notion of hizmet (service) of a coup to topple a civilian rule is unfair, unjust and politically motivated for all practical reasons.
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev rather quickly defused the problem with Turkey by making a visit to Ankara to meet with President Erdogan. Nazarbaev did not agree to close down the Gulen schools in Kazakhstan, but he did promise to carefully scrutinize those running the schools and those teaching in them.
Several African states have rejected Turkey’s request to close schools run by the Hizmet movement. Turkish President Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, who owns Hizmet, of involvement in the failed July 15 coup. When Turkish President Erdogan visited Uganda and Kenya in May, he sought to stamp out the influence of the Islamic cleric Gulen. He accused the preacher of using his connections to try to overthrow him, allegations which Gulen denied.
The events of that night [the coup attempt] could be called as a serious terror coup. I categorically reject such accusations. The claim that I convinced the 8th biggest army in the world from 6000 miles away against its own government is an incredible slander. I would like those who are responsible for this coup attempt, regardless of their identities, to receive the punishment they deserve after a fair trial.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the United States must make a choice between Ankara and a movement led by US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Ankara has accused Gulen and his followers of playing a key role in the July 15 attempted coup, which claimed lives of over 240 people.
If some were under the influence of interventionist culture of the army and preferred to trample the values of Hizmet with this reflex – which I do not think – their sins can not be attributed to all supporters of the movement. May God punish them. Nobody, including me, is above the law. I wish that all perpetrators, regardless of their affiliation, are sentenced to what they deserve through fair trial.