It is hard to understand the relentless efforts of Turkish politicians and media networks to create new objects of hate, in contrast with the global and local struggle against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and similar approaches that pave the way for hate speech, hate crime and discrimination. Hate speech, mutually produced in the context of the developments following the Gezi Park protests in June, is concrete proof that we are making life in this world increasingly unbearable for one another.
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç on Monday said the image of a fight between his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and Hizmet movement is very ugly, adding that the government has never wanted to reach such a point. Speaking on a program on Habertürk TV, he said: “If there are problems, we can […]
Hakan Yesilova The Turkish press has been dominantly occupied with the coup and violence in Egypt and Syria, and one more issue that has erupted, as if out of no where, is a so-called rift between the government and the Gulen Movement (GM), an influential faith-inspired educational movement. The story goes that some influential circles […]
Akif Beki Journalists and Writers Foundation gave a bulk response to the rumors regarding Hizmet-Government dispute. I did not sense an attempt of making a feint at the government in the text, if we don’t count a few unnecessary sentences. Thinking that folks may want to hear my comments on the topic, I was unable […]
Vice President of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Mehmet Ali Şahin remarked on the relations between AK Party and the Hizmet Movement (Gulen movement) in an interview*. Şahin said, “Is it possible for us to have any issue with the people performing such activities? We can be only grateful to them. We […]
Nazli Ilicak The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) has responded to a series of claims about and slanderous accusations against the Hizmet movement. Currently there is a lot of insulting talk on social media and in some media circles about the movement. Some columnists who support the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) claim that members of […]
No matter how many times I say, “Nothing worse or more unbelievable could happen,” Turkey never stops surprising me. Of course, as many agree, the unpredictable nature of things in Turkey makes this country a gold mine for journalists and researchers, but it’s exhausting at the same time. On Tuesday, the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s […]
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has commented for the first time on allegations that there are tensions between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the Hizmet movement, saying, “We don’t need to get into a verbal row that might hurt relations between the government and the movement; we don’t need it, it would hurt us.” He also said Erdoğan holds Gülen in esteem.
Esteemed Fethullah Gülen frequently underlines: “Forget getting a share of political power. We cannot accept control of the world even if it is presented to us on a gold tray because this would create disappointment among those actively supporting our cause. And people would think ‘They’ve also been deceived by the love of position and sense of interest. All these [voluntary] efforts were for the sake of getting a share in the political power’.”
Hizmet cannot establish a political party because politics all over the world are mostly based on contention, challenge, belittling opponents and division. Forming a political party would harm the Hizmet movement but similar to Rumi’s compass, it endeavors to establish critically constructive contact with every single human being on the planet. Its main mission is to build bridges across cultures, communities, religions and so on.
Noting that it’s an interesting analogy, I told Gulen community is not a political movement and its participants refer to their movement as “hizmet.” As our conversation moved on, I got the feeling that the correspondent regarded Gulen community as the most influential organized opposition movement against the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party).
Turkey’s prominent journalist Fehmi Koru answered Ece Uner’s questions on Haberturk TV. He also made comments about the AK Party-Gulen Movement conflict and the probability that the Gulen Movement may engage in active party politics. Koru said, “What you call as the movement is a civil society organization. They let politicians do the daily politics. […]
BOOK REVIEW Ten years after co-editing his first book on the Gülen movement, Hakan Yavuz, a leading scholar on Turkish society, brings his academic prowess and careful observations to bear on this dynamic phenomenon in Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gülen Movement.1 This well-timed book not only provides an update on the growth of the […]
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen asked the Turkish government to be more careful in regional and international issues during his visit, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said May 22 in an interview with public broadcaster TRT. Arınç had meeting with Gülen, who lives in a self-imposed exiled in Pennsylvania, on the sidelines of Prime Minister Recep […]