Date posted: August 6, 2016
Fethullah Gulen Talked to Kurdish TV NRT on Kurds, human rights and Erdogan.
Tags: Asia | Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | Interviews with Fethullah Gulen | Iraq | Kurdish Issue | Military coups in Turkey |
The Turkish secular elite who have long feared an Iranian-style theocracy in their own country may finally be seeing the worst of their fears come true. The widespread purges under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following last month’s failed coup attempt against his government suggest the Turkish state is moving toward authoritarian Islamist rule of the sort that Iran introduced in 1979.
Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, released several recorded phone conversations of his client on Wednesday, saying they were illegally wiretapped in violation of individuals’ privacy and that some politicians are using them as an instrument in their shady plan to finish off the Hizmet movement.
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.
Join us for a talk by Dr. Pim Valkenberg on his recent book “Renewing Islam by Service: A Christian View of Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement”. The talk will be moderated by Dr. Paul Heck.
Erdogan also accused the movement of being behind several recent audio recordings posted on various social media networks that disclosed several conversations allegedly between himself and his son Bilal Erdoğan discussing how to get rid of large sums of money cached in their homes and those of their relatives.
Once considered a beacon of hope for the Middle East, Turkey has been rapidly backsliding on issues of democracy, freedom of the press, and human rights. One would have thought this downfall hit bottom on July 15, when a bloody coup was attempted, leaving behind more than 250 dead.