Rumi Forum's blog on Hizmet, Fethullah Gulen, peacebuilding, education and interfaith efforts.

Monday, January 27, 2014

BBC News - Analysis on Fethullah Gulen


Analysis on Fethullah Gulen








Mr Gulen was interviewed by the BBC in Pennsylvania US.


Getting the interview


This was Mr Gulen's first broadcast interview in 16 years.
His previous interviews were mostly via email.
The whole process of arranging it took at least a year.
In order to persuade him, I had to go through a series of interviews myself, by panels of Hizmet participants - from Europe, Turkey and the US.
It was postponed a couple of times and wasn't confirmed until a day before, when I had a final meeting with Hizmet members in New York.
Younger participants, such as Kadir Uysaloglu, UK representative of Zaman newspaper, made an extraordinary effort to arrange the interview.
We were still not close to doing it even after arriving at the building where he was staying.
I have read reports about journalists getting within a few metres of him but having to go back to their offices without an interview.
I was told I could join him after his meal - he was one floor up, and messages still had to go through a couple of people.
The Hizmet participants are quite protective about him.



BBC Fethullah Gulen: Powerful but reclusive Turkish cleric


Fethullah GulenFrom exile Fethullah Gulen has emerged as a key figure in Turkish politics
Fethullah Gulen has been called Turkey's second most powerful man. He is also a recluse, who lives in self-imposed exile in the US.
An apparent power struggle between his followers and those around the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has reached a new pitch of intensity and loathing.
Since arriving in the US in the late 1990s, Mr Gulen, 74, has not given a single broadcast interview. What rare communication there has been with the media has almost exclusively been conducted via email.
But now, the BBC has had exclusive access to the Muslim cleric. I travelled with Guney Yildiz from the BBC Turkish Service to a remote part of Pennsylvania to meet the man.
Frailty
Two moments stood out from my interview with Mr Gulen. Neither had anything to do with what he said.
The first occurred as our camerawoman, Maxine, was making some last-minute adjustments to the lighting. Mr Gulen waved his hand wanly, and a man rushed forward from the chairs arranged on one side of the room. In his haste, he stumbled over the carpet. He was Mr Gulen's personal physician.
He took the blood pressure of his elderly charge, before poking, one-handed, a pill from its packet and giving it to his patient to chew. The testing and dispensing routine would be repeated later in the interview.
The second incident happened at the end of our long conversation, which was prolonged by the consecutive translation. Moments after Mr Gulen stood up, he swayed. One of his 13 followers in the room caught him by his shoulders, and righted him.
Fethullah Gulen may be, as the former US ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey told me, Turkey's second most powerful man - an Islamic cleric who sits atop a movement with perhaps millions of followers, worth perhaps billions, with a presence, often through its high-achieving schools, in 150 countries.
But Mr Gulen's own physical capabilities appear to be ebbing. He has, we were told, a series of chronic ailments, and is recovering from an upper respiratory disorder. Indeed, just before the interview, one of his closest colleagues told me it had been on the cusp of being cancelled.
Fethullah Gulen being interviewed by Tim FranksMr Gulen avoided any rhetoric that could further inflame Turkish tensions
Sense of mystery
Mr Gulen had all along been deeply reluctant to agree to the interview request, but had been "persuaded" by his advisers.
And yet... even during the interview, the cleric proved surprisingly elusive. Surprising, because Mr Gulen has been almost universally depicted as being in a virtual death clinch with his erstwhile ally, Prime Minister Erdogan, in a struggle for power and vengeance in Turkey.

Start Quote

Whoever struck first, Mr Erdogan has recently been seeking to curb the reach of Mr Gulen's Hizmet ("Service") movement, whose followers - or "participants" as some of them prefer to call themselves - include police chiefs and prosecutors leading corruption investigations into the heart of government. Mr Erdogan has decried their work as that of "a state within a state".
So why had Mr Gulen finally consented to allow the BBC to meet him on the extensive private estate in small-town Pennsylvania? (Mr Gulen came to the US after being charged with crimes against the state - charges he was later cleared of.)
The interview did not make his intentions altogether clear. But his advisers said the purpose was to clear up some misconceptions.
You can understand why when you read the adjectives that tend to hang around reports on Mr Gulen and Hizmet: "secretive" (Foreign Policy magazine); "shadowy" (The Economist); "opaque" (Los Angeles Times); "insidious" (Wikileaks cables).
And so, time was made before and after the interview to take us around the frozen grounds, which we were told were primarily a vacation retreat for families.
Fethullah Gulen's bedroomMr Gulen's tiny bedroom - a surprise, given the size of his residence
Fethullah Gulen's studyMr Gulen's study: From here he manages a big network of followers
Fethullah Gulen's residenceExtensive parkland surrounds Mr Gulen's residence in Pennsylvania
Modest rooms
Mr Gulen, we were shown, lives not in the large complex that is often depicted in photographs, but a smaller adjacent building. We were taken to see his office and minuscule bedroom with single bed.
Twelve of us, not including Mr Gulen, squeezed into his private space to look at his collection of sand from Turkish beaches, his dark wooden bookshelves, his low-slung single bed with a furry brown cushion at one end, his prayer mat and outsized Koran.
When we did eventually meet, he appeared a man in discomfort. Occasionally the smallest of smiles would play at the corners of his mouth.
More often, as he waited for one of his long answers to be translated, he would close his eyes, and tilt his soft, wide face back in his armchair, with a look not of repose but of pain. And whether by political design or medical exhaustion, he seemed keen not to stoke too directly his feud with the prime minister.
He preferred passive to active verbs, airy plurals rather than specific singulars: "I will remain personally silent, I will not return their acts."
Fethullah Gulen being interviewed by BBC Turkish reporter Guney YildizMr Gulen was also interviewed by the BBC Turkish Service
'Phantom threat'
Of Hizmet's alleged direct involvement in the corruption investigations, he said that some of the demoted, sacked or reassigned members of the police and judiciary "were not linked to us".
"These moves were made to make our movement appear bigger than it already is and to frighten people about this non-existent phantom threat."
Why, in that case, have so many people - academics, newspapers, diplomats without a dog in the fight - suggested that it is inconceivable that he, Mr Gulen, did not give the direct order for the net to close in on Mr Erdogan's allies? Particularly after Mr Erdogan had moved to close down Hizmet schools in Turkey?
"It is not possible for these judges and prosecutors to receive orders from me. I have no relation with them. I don't know even 0.1% of them."
But also a tinge of sarcasm: "People in the judiciary and the police carried out investigations and launched this case, as their duties normally require. Apparently they weren't informed of the fact that corruption and bribery have ceased to be criminal acts in Turkey."
There was a time when there was a clear overlap in ambition between the apparently mild Islamic approach of this cleric, and the apparently mild Islamism of the AK Party under its coming man, then new prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
But were there not equally clear signs of divergence now, for example over Mr Erdogan's embrace of peace talks with the armed Kurdish separatists, led by their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan?
Kurdish tensions
Ocalan, said Mr Gulen, was "uneasy with what we were doing with the Kurdish people" (through the extension of Hizmet schools deep into Kurdish territory).
"They didn't want our activities to prevent young people joining the militants in the mountains. Their politics is to keep enmity between Kurdish and Turkish people."
The establishment of schools and investment in the region "were regarded as if they were against the peace process".
What of the heightening of tensions between Turkey and Israel in recent years? "They try to portray us as a pro-Israeli movement, in the sense that we have a higher regard for them than our nation. We are accepting them as a people, as part of the people of the world."
These quotations are culled and distilled from what others tell me is his peculiarly baroque language. One of his disciples explained that 15% of his speech is unlike anything normally heard in Turkish: Shakespearian rather than modern English, he said.
So given that, and given how I had seen - just in that room, and in the tortured process it had taken to set up the interview - the devotion shown by his followers, I asked a pointed question, seeking a direct answer. If you, Mr Gulen, were back in Turkey this year for the forthcoming local elections, and then presidential elections (in which Mr Erdogan is widely expected to run, in the hope of ruling with enhanced powers), who would you vote for?
Mr Gulen draws back, then hints; draws back again, hints again: "I don't have the intention to say anything on that matter.
"If I were to say anything to people I may say people should vote for those who are respectful to democracy, rule of law, who get on well with people. Telling or encouraging people to vote for a party would be an insult to peoples' intellect. Everybody very clearly sees what is going on."
At one point, in the middle of his answer, he also comes up with the memorable circumlocution: "I haven't even decided to say anything to that effect."
And so that question which had hung as low as the clouds on that freezing day in the Poconos, Pennsylvania: Why, I asked several of his advisers-followers-participants, had Mr Gulen agreed to this interview? "To set the record straight," they answered.
Straight, though, may not mean clear.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Fethullah Gulen’s interview with The Wall Street Journal

by Joe Parkinson and Jay Solomon  January 21 2014

1.       The Prime Minister has repeatedly attacked you and Hizmet in recent weeks. Do you believe that your alliance with his faction of the AKP is now definitively at an end?

If we can talk about an alliance, it was around shared values of democracy, universal human rights and freedoms — never for political parties or candidates. In 2010 constitutional referendum I said that if these democratic reforms, which are in line with European Union’s requirements for membership, were done by CHP before, I would have supported them.

A broad spectrum of Turkish people, including Hizmet participants, supported AKP for democratizing reforms, for ending the military tutelage over politics and for moving Turkey forward in the EU accession process. We have always supported what we believed to be right and in line with democratic principles. But we have also criticized what we saw as wrong and contrary to those principles.

Our values or stance have not changed. We will continue to advocate for democracy. Whether the stance or actions of the political actors are consistent with their earlier record should be decided by the Turkish people and unbiased observers.


2.       You have enjoyed a decade-long alliance with Mr. Erdogan – what is the moment that has most upset you about his leadership?
Just to clarify again, if we can talk about an alliance, it was values and principles based. Throughout the AKP period, we supported democratizing reforms and criticized and opposed anti-democratic actions. For instance, in 2005 we criticized the draft anti-terror law that defined terror crimes too broadly and risked harming freedoms.

During the period between 2003 and 2010, the overall trend was toward democratic reforms and a broad spectrum of Turkish population supported them. This was evident in the constitutional referendum of 2010 which received 58% approval. Indeed Turkey has made economic and democratic progress over the last 15 years.

But we would like these democratizing reforms to continue. Turkish people who supported the constitutional amendments of 2010 with the phrase “good but not sufficient” are upset that in the last two years the democratic progress is now being reversed. A new, civilian-drafted, democratic constitution would consolidate the democratic gains and would anchor Turkey at democratic values of EU.  Unfortunately, that effort has now been abandoned.


3.       What is your reaction to the PM’s moves to purge the leadership of the police force?

If the members of the police force or any other government agency have breached the laws of the country or the rules of their institutions, nobody can defend such actions and they should be subjected to legal or institutional investigation. If, however, they have not done anything illegal and they have not violated their institutional rules, and they are simply being profiled based on their worldviews or affinities, and subjected to discriminatory treatment, then such treatment cannot be reconciled with democracy, rule of law and universal human rights.

Shuffles and purges based on ideology, sympathy or worldviews was a practice of the past that the present ruling party promised to stop while campaigning before elections. It is ironic that members of the police force and judiciary who were applauded as heroes a few months ago are now being shuffled in the middle of winter without any investigation.


4.       What is the reason that Hizmet actively encouraged their students to choose a career path in the police and the judiciary?

First of all let’s correct the premise in the question. I can only speak about my personal advocacy, which was addressed to Turkish public in general.  I have always believed that education is the best way to nurture individuals and build a solid foundation for a society. Every social problem starts with the individual and can be solved for the long term at the level of the individual. Systemic, institutional or policy level solutions are destined for failure when the individual is neglected. Therefore my first and foremost advocacy was for education.

It is also why many people who agreed with my ideas have established various types of educational institutions from dormitories, exam prep centers, to private schools and free tutoring centers. These institutions provided a wider segment of the society access to quality education, which were hitherto available only to a privileged few.

I have encouraged Turkish people to be represented in all facets of the Turkish society and in every institution of their country, because it is important that these institutions reflect the society’s diversity. But the choices that are made by students and their parents are shaped by many factors such as employment opportunities and expected likelihood of upward mobility. I am not sure how influential my advocacy has been as a factor that these families have considered.

As far as the institutions established by Hizmet participants, I don’t have an accurate assessment of the career choices of their graduates. But contrary to what you may think, for students thinking of a career in the fields you mentioned (police or judiciary), historically it has been a potential cause for discrimination to have graduated from such institutions.


5.       The government has signaled that it will review judgments against military officers accused of plotting coups – do you fear they are creating a new alliance against your followers? What is your strategy to counter this?

Retrial in the light of new evidence or demonstration of improprieties in the legal proceedings is a universal human right. If new evidence has emerged, or it is determined that the legal procedure was flawed, then retrial becomes a legal right. Nobody wants an innocent person to face punishment unjustly.
However, if the intention is to completely abolish the verdicts of thousands of trials, then such a move would both undermine the credibility of the justice system and reverse the democratic gains of the past decade. It would be very difficult to explain such a move to the 58% of Turkish population who supported the constitutional amendments of 2010 which made it possible to try former coup perpetrators in civilian courts for the first time in Turkish history. It would also present an irony as the leaders of the present government for years championed these trials as a triumph of democracy and applauded the brave prosecutors and judges, in their language, who took part in them. There have also been reports of political leaders bragging about subjugating the military leadership to the civilian authority.


The present rhetoric in which these trials are discredited and attributed to a certain group within the judiciary presents a complete contrast to the rhetoric of the political leaders during their ten years of governance. There is also an element of insincerity here. When the director of the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) was contacted by a prosecutor for questioning the alleged participation of intelligence officers in the terrorist acts of KCK/PKK units, the government immediately passed a law requiring prime minister’s approval for investigating the intelligence director. While the ruling party certainly had the power to do so, they did not pass a similar law to bring the same protection to the accused chief of general staff or army commanders. This inconsistency demonstrates that the recent rhetoric of retrials is politically motivated rather than a desire for justice for military officers.
If implemented, such a move would be a blow to the democratic reforms of the recent decades.  It would be a dramatic reversal of the effort to remove the military’s tutelage over democratic institutions. In Turkish history, four elected governments have been toppled by military coups over half a century.


6.       The government has targeted a range of businesses from Koc to Dogan, slapping them with tax fines when their political stance contrasted with Mr. Erdogan. Do you see a threat to businesses led by Hizmet followers in light of recent events?

From the news reports I am learning that what you referred to is no longer a threat, it is reality. The Koza group, Istikbal group and Bank Asya were targeted with various forms of extraordinary inspections, fines, permit cancellations, and massive unscheduled fund withdrawals, which followed negative campaign against the bank in certain news outlets known to be close to the ruling party.


7.      President Gul is seen as a moderate leader who can bring together various factions ranging from conservatives to liberals and Hizmet. Would you be supportive of an AKP Mr. Gul leads as Prime Minister or do you think he is more helpful to the country as president? Do you find a more sympathetic audience in Mr. Gul compared to Mr. Erdogan.

We have always tried to maintain the same proximity to all political parties. As a civil society movement, we have never advocated supporting a party or candidate. But individual Hizmet participants have found certain parties and candidates closer to their beliefs and values supported them out of their free will.

Mr. Gul is currently our president. It would be inappropriate for us to speculate about future scenarios involving his name.


8.       Many of your supporters in the media have been very positive about the CHP leadership in recent weeks – do you believe an alliance between Hizmet and CHP is likely through the next election cycle?

 To repeat, we have never formed an alliance or partnership with a political party or candidate. Our support or criticism has always been around values. Such an alliance will not be made in the future either. As civil society actor, it is imperative for us to be open to everybody in the society. But our values are clear. Democracy, universal human rights and freedoms, transparent and accountable governance are among these values.

When the opportunities come, Hizmet participants, just like any other citizen will make their choices based on their values. It is possible that people who share core values will make choices along the same lines.

Source: http://realtime.wsj.com/turkey/2014/01/21/fethullah-gulens-interview-with-the-wall-street-journal-in-english/

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

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