Opinions
Erdoğan hampers girls’ education [by shutting down prep schools run by the Hizmet movement]
Adalet Binici, a 14-year-old Kurdish girl in eighth grade, became the champion in last year’s Level Determination Examination (SBS), a high school placement test administered by the Turkish government to over a million students nationwide, thanks to the supplementary education and training provided by a prep school run by the Hizmet movement that is inspired by education-savvy Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Erdoğan’s game plan for Hizmet
Erdogan may continue to demonize and even to try to criminalize the Hizmet movement in an effort to brainwash his people into believing that he is the only one who can save the nation. We will see if this brings him the additional votes he needs to be elected president.
Volunteer website serves as reference tool about Hizmet movement
A website established and run by a group of Turkish volunteers based on the West Coast of the United States which aims to provide the most accurate and up-to-date source of information and news about the Hizmet movement has been attracting increasing attention globally.
AK Party-Hizmet clash a blessing for world Muslims
The Hizmet has proven that one can remain religiously observant and rise against tyranny at the same time. Thank God the Hizmet movement is one of the main actors in Turkey that has resisted the seemingly democratic but actually autocratic AK Party government’s lawless policies.
Turkish schools abroad victims of AKP-Gulen conflict
The fate of the Gulen movement’s schools — located in over 160 countries — is being debated following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration of war in the wake of the Dec. 17 graft probe that targeted individuals associated with his government.
Turkish schools are being closed down
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated he had ordered the closure of Turkish schools in 160 countries, arguing that the officials of those schools had sent letters to the leaders of foreign countries in which they complained about the Turkish government. The closure of these schools is a serious step, but the reason for the closure is not based on real evidence.
To escape punishment, punish them all
The Turkish prime minister has decided that if he continues to be angry and vengeful, his power will be cemented. In his latest address in Parliament, he pushed his angry discourse to higher — or lower — levels, to make clear that he will not forgive and he will punish. Since he has chosen the Hizmet movement as the enemy, all he wants to do is inflict harm, regardless of on who or what.
Where is Turkey going? (2)
Gülen movement supports a critical approach as a fundamental aspect of knowledge and faith. Furthermore, it considers science and mathematics to be especially necessary to a devout Muslim fulfilling his religious and civil duties and to improve the economic situation of his family and community.
Erdoğan’s Baku visit will not close Hizmet schools
Heydar Aliyev, an experienced and far-sighted politician, always supported these schools and we cannot say that the decisions to open the doors of the country to these schools was of no benefit. The schools have for years maintained the trust of the government because they are integrated with Azerbaijani society and its values. To think that the schools opened with blessings of Heydar Aliyev will be shut down by his son İlham Aliyev would be naïve.
Right to dissent in Turkey
The primary reason why members of Hizmet (Service), a faith-based social movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have been attacked, vilified and stigmatized by a government that is dominated by overzealous political Islamists and pro-Iranian sympathizers is that Gülen is standing up to the increasingly authoritarian powers of Erdoğan, who has seized control of the republic’s institutions including the judiciary, leading to increased polarization and tension in Turkish society.
