The Hizmet movement, a fairly religious group that expresses a tendency for solidarity among its members, who are self-confident, well-educated and active in different parts of the world, had alienated itself in the eyes of religious people as well as regular people. Such a perception had emerged as a result of the level of education they have attained and their presence abroad.
The faithful people of Anatolia who were alienated for many years, educated and trained themselves with the scope given by the “leader” of the movement. They sacrificed and worked a lot in order to get to those governmental positions. They got to these positions with their great effort and labor. They utilized these positions for God`s sake, for their homeland and their nation.
Erdoğan has rejected the evidence of corruption that has been substantiated or he has presented this proof as being part of a conspiracy. He promoted the idea that Israel and the US were external components of this conspiracy and that the Hizmet movement was the domestic component. Propaganda centers have worked to this end.
Erdoğan risks his own Islamic beliefs just to lead his voters to believe that Gülen and his followers are not Muslims, but puppets and even agents of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — just like Ivan Watson of CNN International! — and Mossad. Erdoğan also keeps claiming that Fethullah Gülen and Hizmet movement supporters are terrorists.
There are now serious question marks over whether the government orchestrated the operations at TİB to libel Hizmet for wiretapping with the aim of diverting attention from the separate spying case under way in Ankara and saving those uniformed men from facing judicial scrutiny over charges of spying.
Fethullah Gulen dearly paid the cost of this truth-telling with many false allegations followed by years of trials and tribulations. Similarly he did not mind being politically incorrect when he raised his voice about the ongoing governmental corruption. Without violating the presumption of innocence, he said these allegations should be investigated thoroughly, and whether wrongdoers are affiliated with a political party or the Gulen movement, should be brought to justice.
Several claims and accusations have been voiced, and the Hizmet movement has been described as a gang and a “parallel structure,” Are these accusations based on concrete evidence? No. Fabricated news published by pro-government media outlets, unfounded accusations and slanderous claims that are legally null and void have been refuted one by one. However, the pro-government media does not care about this, since they do not care in the least about rights or the rule of law.
Political madness in Turkey is at its peak. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not even refrain from using the term “witch hunt” against the Gülen followers. When Erdoğan and his circle don’t find any evidence, they allegedly try to produce evidence. Bureaucrats who don’t want to be part of Erdoğan’s witch hunt have sent letters to the media and prosecutors confessing what they are doing. Unfortunately, what they said in those letters has been confirmed by later developments.
KYM Secretary General Savas Metin said this campus will function as a base in Malindi for the aid efforts to be done in the region. “We have brought drinking water for 1 million people, with the water wells we established in the drought-ridden Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. We will not only educate underprivileged students at Light Academy but provide medical aid.”
Influential Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is considered by TIME magazine as “the most potent advocate of moderation in the Muslim world,” has strongly condemned the kidnappings in Nigeria as well as other such violent acts. In an interview he said that denying girls access to education simply goes against the spirit of the Muslim religious tradition and that women should be able to take on every role in our society, including those of physicians, military officers, judges and head of state.
Hizmet combines characteristics that we are not used to seeing combined in such a way: faith-inspired (in motivation) yet faith-neutral (in so many activities), informed by Qur’anic principles yet inclusive and non-missionary, predominantly Muslim but proactively engaging with wider society and responding constructively to modern and post-modern ideas and lifestyles.