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Are Gülen's remarks really surprising? | ||
| When he said, "Peace is in itself goodness, and peace brings happiness," Fethullah Gülen, a well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar, made a deep impact on the public debate revolving around the new peace process which started with the negotiations between the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is currently serving a life term on İmralı Island off the coast of İstanbul. | ||
| At a time when the minds of many people were confused, Gülen, as an opinion leader, referred to the Qur'anic verse, "Peaceful settlement is better" (Sura an-Nisa, 4:28) as well as to the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiya, a major turning point in the history of Islam, in stressing the significance of peace, and this is certainly a great contribution to the settlement of Turkey's top issue. Aside from the usual efforts by certain marginal groups to distort his words, his message was generally welcomed positively. The most interesting of the comments made about Gülen's words were by those who were surprised by the most expected words from a person who has made it his habit to give messages of peace and dialogue in Turkey and in the international arenas and to support projects that seek to reinforce peace and dialogue. This is really interesting because the comments of these people imply that they expect Gülen not to lend support to this process and even to feel uneasy about such developments. These perception is perhaps the outcome of systematic defamation campaigns extending from “cosmic rooms” to international lobbies. Whatever the case, the perception that Gülen and the Hizmet movement would not be warm to a historic opportunity for a solution to a major conflict in Turkey is essentially flawed. Indeed, 21 years ago, this movement made its public appearance with a peaceful vision, which may even be considered utopian, of bringing together Toktamış Ateş and Barış Manço or Kasım Gülek and Abdurrahman Dilipak. The headline story about that famous meeting held at Dedeman Hotel on June 29, 1994 quoted Gülen as saying, "There will be no turning back from democracy." At that time, neither the coup of Feb. 28 nor the 9/11 attacks had occurred. And Gülen's words sounded extremely revolutionary for Islamic movements. What worried Gülen in those years was about the “clash of civilizations” scenario, voiced by Samuel Huntington, and its hair-raising consequences. Gülen proposed to create "islands of peace" in various parts around the globe, and he encouraged people who wouldn't refuse him to go to various places including Siberia, Papua New Guinea, Africa, and the Americas to create those islands of peace. When Gülen met Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew in 1996 and with the Pope in 1998, this was perceived by the pious Muslims of Turkey as far too progressive, and he was harshly criticized by Muslims at the time. He also inspired the Abant Platform, which sought to regularly bring together Turkish, Kurdish, Islamist, Alevi, agnostic, liberal, Armenian, secular and nationalist intellectuals to discuss the main issues in the country. These preliminary steps to gather practitioners of different faiths and followers of different ideologies together later evolved into fast-breaking dinners, award ceremonies and conferences. He exerted unceasing efforts to eliminate the coldness and alienation between Alevis and Sunnis, and in this the context, he, in his capacity as a Muslim scholar, refuted the oft-parroted "mum söndü" libel (the candle was blown out) -- a phrase used to refer to Alevi religious ceremonies pejoratively and in which participants supposedly turn to debauchery and incest when the candle is blown out. Gülen has complained that Kurds were denied their right to education in their mother tongue. "Why isn't Kurdish allowed to be taught in school? In the schools run by Turkish entrepreneurs in various countries across the globe, even in the US, Turkish is taught as an optional course and no one raises an objection to it. This is one of the characteristics of being a great state," he said in October 2011. When asked "What is the primary goal of the Hizmet movement?" by Mehmet Gündem of Milliyet newspaper during an interview seven years ago, Gülen said: "We seek to find the ways of agreement and reconciliation to bury the hatchet and place heavy stones on it and to prioritize peace, tranquility and harmony." SOURCE: http://todayszaman.com/columnist-304232-are-gulens-remarks-really-surprising.html | ||
Showing posts with label nationalist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nationalist. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
OP-ED: Are Fethullah Gülen's remarks really surprising?
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Hurriyet Daily News: The protocols of the learned elders of Fethullah Gulen by Mustafa Akyol
Despite the 2 years that has past since this article was written, today it still clearly reflects the prejudice and misunderstandings by a few of Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen (Hizmet) Movement.
The Imam in America
A secret agenda?
The protocols of the learned elders of Fethullah Gülen
According to Turkey's ultra-secularists, the country is being stalked by a cunning enemy that never sleeps, always schemes and works behind every institution.
If you have the chance to talk to a staunchly secular Turk these days and want to hear something mind-boggling, just ask him a simple question: “What the hell is this Gülen movement?”
It is very likely that you will then listen to a chilling conspiracy theory about how this evil cadre of “Islamists” is taking over Turkey step by step. You will learn how they have “infiltrated” every state institution, from the police to the judiciary, and now are defusing the power of the military, the last bastion of secularism. You might even hear that the 69-year-old Mr. Fethullah Gülen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, is similar to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the sense that he will soon come back to bless an “Islamic revolution” prepared by his disciples.
The Imam in America
But if you want to get your facts right, don’t stop there. Ask the same Turkish ultra-secularist about the role of the U.S. in this evil scheme. It is very likely that he will tell you that Gülen is “supported by the CIA.” He will explain you how America wants to create “moderate Islamic regimes” in the Middle East, along with an independent Kurdistan – and, of course, a Greater Israel – and how Gülen perfectly fits into all these plots. Your friend will even quote a recent bestseller titled “Amerika’daki İmam” (The Imam in America) by Ergün Poyraz, a staunch Kemalist, to “prove” all this.
To me, however, all this rather sounds a bit like The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, the notorious anti-Semitic forgery. In both The Protocols and the conspiracy theories about Gülen, the theme is similar: There is a cunning enemy that is secretly, yet steadily achieving its plan for total domination. The enemy never sleeps, always schemes and works “everywhere... behind every institution."
I, as you can imagine, have a different explanation for the Gülen movement.
First, I believe that its extent and influence is exaggerated. I actually know this from personal experience: Despite the fact that I have stated many times that I am not a follower of Gülen, or anybody else, I routinely get aggressive comments, and even hate mail, from Kemalists who take it for granted that I am yet another “Gülen lackey.”
In fact, Turkey’s ultra-secularists have lately come to believe that anybody who is conservative, pro-Islamic or even just critical of the military must be a “Gülenist.” Recently, even a more refined Kemalist commentator defined the anti-militarist daily Taraf as a “pro-Gülen newspaper.” One could rather define it as the Turkish paper with the highest number of atheists and agnostics among its editors and writers.
The truth is that with a few million followers, and lots of schools, media outlets and business networks, the Gülen movement is certainly powerful, but not all-dominant in any part of society. Within the Islamic camp, they are just one of the many different communities. For the secularists, all of these people can be the same – they all pray too often and their wives wear the hated headscarf. But there are actually various groups of Naqshbandis, Qadiris, “Süleymancıs,” “Erbakancıs” or “Nurcus.” The Gülenists are just one of the several offshoots of the latter tradition.
But what do they aim for Turkey? While the secularist answer is, “to dominate, stupid,” I think they rather want to have a hospitable environment in which they can survive and grow.
To see why, you should look at the group’s origins. Islamic thinker Said Nursi (1878-1960), who laid the foundations for Gülen’s thinking, was a very apolitical figure who believed Islam can best be served in this age by an intellectual and spiritual struggle against atheism and moral decadence. Even this most moderate form of Islam was unacceptable for Kemalism, so, in the latter’s heyday (1925-50), Nursi was repeatedly imprisoned for his books. He and his followers, whose stated goal was “to save people’s afterlife” by preaching “the truths of faith,” only took a deep breath in 1950, when the center-right Democrat Party came to power.
A secret agenda?
Since then, both the followers of Nursi, and of Gülen, who further modernized Nursi’s thoughts and created a global movement out of them, have supported center-right governments. They, meanwhile, distanced themselves from the Islamist parties founded by Necmettin Erbakan, whom they saw as a radical troublemaker. The reason was that the Nursi-Gülen tradition doesn’t envision an “Islamic state.” It rather seeks a liberal-democratic state that will be tolerant to its missionary work, which it carries out through publications, charity and education.
The recent alliance between members of this tradition and the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government should be understood within this context. Members of the Gülen movement supports the AKP because they know that the alternative (a military coup, or a military-orchestrated restoration government) will crack down on them severely, as happened in the late 1990s. This is a survival strategy, in other words, rather than a plot to dominate.
Finally, if the group really has a “secret agenda” to turn Turkey into a “Shariah state,” then it is in deep trouble. For it now has schools in more than 100 countries, most of them non-Muslim and any radical thing it does in Turkey would ruin its reputation and faith mission throughout the whole world.
So, perhaps, the Gülen movement has to dominate the whole world first in order to take over Turkey!
But, well, your secularist Turkish friends might say, isn’t that what all “learned elders” conspire for?
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