Gülen movement

Last updated

Gülen movement
Gülen hareketi
Also known as
Founder
CountryTurkey, United States, Canada, Finland, Sweden, European Union
Headquarters İzmir, Turkey (1969–1999)
Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, United States (1999–present)
Active regionsWorldwide
Ideology Gülenism
SizeFormerly estimated at 200,000 to 4 million,
currently unknown.
Designated as a terrorist group byFlag of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.svg GCC
OIC Logo since 2011.svg OIC
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey
Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern Cyprus
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan
Website fgulen.com
gulenmovement.com

The Gülen movement or Hizmet movement (Turkish : Gülen hareketi / Hizmet hareketi) is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its members as the "Service" ("Turkish : Hizmet") or "Community" ("Turkish : Cemaat ") and it originated in Turkey around the late 1950s. It is institutionalized in 180 countries through educational institutions as well as media outlets, finance companies, for-profit health clinics, and affiliated foundations that have a combined net worth in the range of 20-50 billion dollars as of 2015. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [ excessive citations ]

Contents

Its teachings are considered conservative in Turkey but some have praised the movement as a pacifist, modern-oriented version of Islam, and an alternative to more extreme schools of Islam such as Salafism. [9] On the other hand it has also been reported to have a "cultish hierarchy" and as being a secretive Islamic sect. [10] [11] [12] The movement is also known for initiating forums for interfaith dialogue.

The movement was previously led by the Islamic preacher Hoca Fethullah Gülen, who left Turkey in 1999 after being threatened by lawsuits and settled in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.

The Gülen movement was a former ally of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP). When the AKP came to power in 2002 the two groups formed an alliance against military and the Turkish secular elite despite their differences. [13] [14] It was through this alliance that the AKP secured national electoral victories sufficient to form majority governments consecutively in 2002, 2007, and 2011. During this time, hundreds of Gülen supporters were appointed to positions within the Turkish government. [15]

Once the old establishment had been defeated, disagreements began emerging between the AKP and the Gülen movement. The first breaking point was the so-called ″MİT crisis″ in February 2012 which has been interpreted as a power struggle between the AKP and the pro-Gülen police and judiciary. [16] [17] [18] After corruption investigations in 2013 into several politicians and family members of the ruling AKP of Turkey by the Gülen friendly judiciary, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed the movement had initiated the investigations as a result of a break in previously friendly relations. [19] [20] [21] [22] President Erdoğan said Gülen had attempted to overthrow the Turkish government through a judicial coup using the investigations. In response to the investigations, the government seized the group-owned newspaper Zaman , which was one of the most circulated newspapers in Turkey, as well as several companies that had ties to the group. [23]

Since May 2016, the Gülen movement has been classified by Turkey as a terrorist organization under the names Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (Turkish : Fethullahçı Terör Örgütü) (FETÖ) and Parallel State Structure (Turkish : Paralel Devlet Yapılanması) (PDY). [24] The movement has also been designated as a terrorist organization by Pakistan, Northern Cyprus, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. [25] [26] [27] After the failed coup attempt in July 2016, the government blamed the group for the coup and authorities arrested thousands of soldiers and judges. Other members of the group who worked for Turkey’s governmental agencies were dismissed and over ten thousand education staff were suspended and the licenses of over 20,000 teachers working at private institutions were revoked due to their affiliation to Gülen. [28] [29] Gülen condemned the coup and denied any involvement. [30] [31]

Scandals and allegations

Bombing of Şemdinli Bookstore, 2005

On 9 November 2005, a bookstore was bombed in Şemdinli. The prosecutor for the case, Ferhat Sarıkaya, prepared a criminal indictment in which Turkey's Commander of Land Forces, Yaşar Büyükanıt, was accused of forming a gang and plotting the bombing. In 2016 Sarıkaya confessed that he was ordered by Gülenists to include General Yaşar Büyükanıt in the criminal indictment to prevent his promotion in the army and to ease the pressure on Gülenist structures within the army. [32] The defendants, Ali Kaya, Özcan İldeniz, and Veysel Ateş, were acquitted of the bombing on 20 December 2021. [33]

Assassination of Hrant Dink, 2007

Allegations have been made about the role of the Gülen movement in the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. Hakan Bakırcıoglu, one of Hrant Dink's lawyers, said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that the under-aged perpetrator, Ogün Samast, had help from third parties, including people connected to the Istanbul and Trabzon police forces. [34]

Four prosecutors in the trial were dismissed from their posts due to their ties with the movement and for failing to make progress with the case. Furthermore, police commissioners Ramazan Akyürek and Ali Fuat Yılmazer were accused of not sharing their foreknowledge of the attack with the prosecutors, the gendarmerie, or the intelligence services despite being briefed of a planned assassination several times. [35]

Ergenekon trials, 2008-2016

Questions have arisen about the Gülen movement's possible involvement in the Ergenekon investigation, [36] which critics characterized as "a pretext" by the government "to neutralize dissidents" in Turkey. [37]

According to investigative journalist Nedim Şener, the Gülen movement used the assassination of Hrant Dink, the assassination of priest Andrea Santoro, the Zirve Publishing House murders as well as other events, to create the illusion of a clandestine Kemalist ultra-nationalist organization responsible for these events. With the start of the Ergenekon trials, this alleged organization was called "Ergenekon terrorist organization". The Gülen affiliated media, in particular Taraf, Zaman, and Samanyolu Haber TV, were instrumental in shaping the public opinion during this time. In these court cases, military officials, parliamentarians and journalists were accused of plotting a violent coup to oust the government. It was later revealed that these cases were based on fabricated evidence, most of which was produced by the Gülenists in the police. [38] Later Nedim Şener was arrested for being a member of the Ergenekon organization and was held in pre-trial detention in 2011. [39]

The Gülen movement has also been implicated in what the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has said were illegal court decisions against members of the Turkish military, including many during the Ergenekon investigation. These claims were also supported by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after 2013. [40]

Sex and corruption tapes, 2010

Members of the Gülen movement inside the intelligence agency have been accused of reshaping Turkish politics to a more "workable form" by leaking secretly filmed sex tapes and corruption tapes of members of the government, with the resignation of main opposition leader Deniz Baykal in 2010 as the most notable example. However to date, these allegations remain unsubstantiated, and no court case has been brought.

The Imam's Army, 2011

In March 2011, seven Turkish journalists were arrested, including Ahmet Şık, who had been writing a book, "Imamin Ordusu" ( The Imam's Army ), [41] which states that the Gülen movement has infiltrated the country's security forces. As Şık was taken into police custody, he shouted, "Whoever touches it [the movement] gets burned!". [42] Upon his arrest, drafts of the book were confiscated and its possession was banned. Şık has also been charged with being part of the Ergenekon plot despite investigating the plot before his arrest. [43]

In a reply, Abdullah Bozkurt, from the Gülen aligned newspaper Today's Zaman , said Ahmet Şık was not an investigative journalist conducting "independent research", but was hatching "a plot designed and put into action by the terrorist network itself". [44]

Corruption scandal, 2013

On 17 December 2013, an investigation into corrupt practices by several bureaucrats, ministers, mayors, and family members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey was uncovered, resulting in widespread protests and calls for the resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Erdoğan. [19] [20] Due to the high level of political influence of the Gülen movement in Turkey, it was rumored that the investigation was facilitated by the movement's influence in the Turkish police force and the judiciary. [21] The investigation was said to be a result of a break in the previously friendly relations between the Islamist-rooted government and the movement. [22]

President Erdoğan and the AKP (the ruling party of Turkey) have targeted the movement since December 2013. Immediately after the investigation became public, the government subjugated the judiciary, media and civil society which were critical of the government's authoritarian trend in recent years. [45] [46] [47] Erdoğan labelled the investigations as a "civilian coup" against his government. Since then, Erdoğan has shuffled, dismissed or jailed hundreds of police officers, judges, prosecutors and journalists in the name of fighting against a "Parallel State" within the Turkish state.

Media arrests, 2014

On 14 December 2014, Turkish police arrested more than two dozen senior journalists and media executives connected with the Gülen movement on various charges.

The US State Department cautioned Turkey to not violate its "own democratic foundations" while drawing attention to the raids against media outlets "openly critical of the current Turkish government". [48] [49] EU Foreign Affairs chief Federica Mogherini and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said that the arrests went "against European values" and "are incompatible with the freedom of media, which is a core principle of democracy". [50]

The Turkish government took over the Gülen affiliated Zaman Daily, on 4 March 2016. Turkish police entered the headquarters by force and fired tear gas at protesting journalists and civilians. Hundreds of protestors were injured. [51] [52] In their effort to eradicate the movement from within the country the Turkish National Security Council has identified the movement as the "Gülenist Terror Organisation" ("Fethullahçı Terör Örgütü", FETÖ). [53] The government has also been targeting individuals and businessmen who have supported the movement's organizations and activities.

Eavesdropping on state offices, 2015

On 20 January 2015, Turkish police launched raids in Ankara and three other cities, detaining some 20 people suspected of illegally eavesdropping on President Erdoğan and other senior officials. The suspects are linked to Turkey's telecommunications authority and to its scientific and technological research center TUBITAK. Local media said the move was aimed at the "parallel structure" — the term Erdoğan uses to refer to Gülen's supporters in the judiciary, police and other institutions. [54]

Collaboration with PKK

Since 2013, the Gülen movement has been accused by the Turkish government of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). [55] In 2014 the movement reportedly conducted several meetings with the PKK in parts of northern Iraq under PKK control. In 2015, the Turkish government said the movement had leaked the identity of 329 Turkish Gendermarie informants to the PKK who were then executed by the PKK. [56]

On 15 April 2016, during the Kurdish–Turkish conflict according to the testimony of his companions Gülen movement member Brigadier General Ali Osman Gürcan deliberately sent 17 soldiers to a house that was packed with IEDs. This led to the death of one police officer and the wounding of eight soldiers. The house had been marked on a map with the code 'P368' for IED's, which Gürcan erased from the map. This lead to a brawl and his companions called him a "traitor". Gürcan later participated in the coup d'état attempt under the Peace at Home Council. He was arrested after the coup's failure and sentenced to life imprisonment. [57]

15 July 2016 coup attempt

In reaction to the 15 July 2016 coup attempt which was led by a military faction operating outside the chain of command, the Turkish government quickly stated the coup's leader to be Gülen. In following days and weeks, a massive crackdown affected all entities affiliated with the Gülen movements, from individuals to businesses, newspapers and schools. [58]

Purges from state offices

Since the 2016 coup attempt, authorities arrested or imprisoned more than 90,000 Turkish citizens and closed more than 1,500 nongovernmental organizations, primarily for alleged ties to the Gülen movement. [59] In 2018, approximately 25,000 Turkish asylum requests were filed by alleged Gülenists in the European Union (a rise of 50% from 2017), with Germany's share 10,000 and Greece's about 5,000. [60] In the U.S., according to news reports, a number of Gülenists who have successfully receiving political asylum status resettled in New Jersey. [61]

In 2019, it was reported that Interpol had denied Turkey's appeals of the rejection of Turkey's red notice requests regarding 464 fugitives. The decision cited Interpol's definition of the 2016 coup d'état attempt as a failed military putsch rather than an act of terrorism. [62]

Extradition of Gulen

Despite Turkey's official request, the United States has not extradited Gülen.[ citation needed ]

Extradition of the leadearship

As of 2020, Turkey had successfully pressured a number of countries, especially those in Africa and the former Soviet Union, to extradite over 80 alleged Gülenists to Turkey. [63] [64]

Some Gulenists abroad have been kidnapped, allegedly by the MİT (Turkish Intelligence Service), and brought to Turkey. Multiple Turkish officials have confirmed that Turkey has been involved in more than 100 international abductions. [65] [66] 68 of these abductions are publicly known. The number of abductions and the countries are: Azerbaijan (8), [67] [68] Bahrain (1), Bulgaria (1), Gabon (3), [69] Indonesia (1), Kazakhstan (2), Kenya (1), [70] Kosovo (6), [71] Kyrgyzstan (1), [72] Lebanon (1), Malaysia (11), Moldova (7), [73] Myanmar (1), Pakistan (4), Saudi Arabia (16), Sudan (1), Ukraine (3). [74]

Among Turkish citizens within Turkey that have been convicted for membership in the Gülen movement are Turkey's honorary president of Amnesty International, Taner Kilic, and Amnesty's Turkish branch, Idil Eser, who were convicted in July 2020. [75]

In June 2021, the Turkish-Kyrgyz educator and head of the Sapat educational network in Kyrgyzstan, Orhan Inandi, went missing from Bishkek, leading to mass protests. Inandi, who holds dual Turkish-Kyrgyz citizenship, had been living in Kyrgyzstan since 1995. [76] One month later, Turkish President Erdoğan said on July 5 that Turkish intelligence agents had abducted Inandi and accused him of being “a top central asian leader” of the Gülen movement. [77] Kyrgyz officials have denied claims they colluded with Turkish intelligence in the abduction. [76]

Designation as a terrorist group

Gülen movement is a designated terrorist group according to the following countries and international organizations:

Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey and considered by the international community to be part of the Republic of Cyprus, also designated the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization in July 2016.

In 2017, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee there was no "evidence to justify the designation of the Gülenists as a terrorist organisation by the UK". [79] The same year, Gilles de Kerchove, the EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator, said that the European Union didn't see the Gülen movement as a terrorist organisation and that the EU would need "substantive" evidence to change its stance. [80] In 2018, in a conference with Turkish President Erdoğan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany needed more evidence to classify the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization. [81]

Assassination of Andrei Karlov

Following the assassination of Andrey Karlov, the Turkish government was reportedly investigating the assassin's links to the "Gülenist Terrorist Organisation" (FETÖ). In a speech, Turkish President Erdoğan said that the perpetrator was a member of FETÖ. [82] [83]

In contrast, Russian officials have accused the shooter of aiming to damage Russia–Turkey relations [84] [85] which had been normalizing since the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt. [86] [87] [88] [89] Gülen described the killing as a “heinous act of terror” that pointed to a deterioration of security in Turkey. [90]

Faith, practice, and experience

The movement has been characterized as a "moderate blend of Islam". [91] [92] Sources state that the Gülen movement is vying to be recognized as the world's leading Muslim network, one that is more reasonable than many of its rivals. [93] The movement builds on the activities of Gülen, who has won praise from non-Muslims for his advocacy of science, interfaith dialogue, and multi-party democracy. It has earned praise as "the world's most global movement". [94] Fethullah Gülen's and the Gülen movement's views and practices have been discussed in several international conferences. [95] [96]

Interfaith dialogue

Gulen and Pope John Paul II Fethullah Gulen visiting Ioannes Paulus II.jpg
Gülen and Pope John Paul II

The movement's avowal of interfaith dialogue grew out of Gülen's personal engagement in interfaith dialogue which was largely inspired by, Said Nursi. Gülen has met with leaders of other religions, including Pope John Paul II, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and Israeli Sephardic Head Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron. [97] Gülen advocates for cooperation between followers of different religions as well as those practicing different forms of Islam (such as Sunnism or Alevism).

Gülen movement participants have founded a number of institutions across the World that promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue activities. Among these are the Journalists and Writers Foundation in Istanbul, the Rumi Forum in Washington and the Indialogue Foundation in New Delhi.

Devotional practices

David Tittensor wrote, "[Detractors] have labeled Gülen community members as secretive missionaries, while those in the Movement and sympathetic observers class it as a civil society organization". [98]

Critics have complained that members of the Gülen movement are overly compliant with the directions from its leaders, [99] and Gülen's "movement is generally perceived by its critics as a religio-political cult". [100] The Guardian editorial board described the movement in 2013 as having "some of the characteristics of a cult or of an Islamic Opus Dei". [101]

Scholars such as Simon Robinson disagree with the characterization, writing that although "[t]here is no doubt that Gülen remains a charismatic leader and that members of the movement hold him in the highest respect", the movement "differs markedly from a cult in several ways", with Gülen stressing "the primacy of the scriptures" and "the imperative of service" and consistently avoiding "attempts to institutionalize power, to perceive him as the source of all truth, or to view him as taking responsibility for the movement". [102] Zeki Saritoprak says that the view of Gülen as "a cult leader or a man with ambitions" is mistaken, and contends that Gülen should be viewed in the context of a long line of Sufi masters who have long been a center of attention "for their admirers and followers, both historically and currently". [103]

Relations to the state

The Gülen movement works within the given structures of modern secular states; it encourages affiliated members to maximize the opportunities those countries afford rather than engaging in subversive activities. [104] In the words of the leader himself and the title of a cornerstone of his philosophy, Gülen promotes "an Ottoman Empire of the Mind". [105]

Beginning in 2008, the Dutch government investigated the movement's activities in the Netherlands in response to questions from Parliament. The first two investigations, performed by the AIVD, concluded that the movement did not form a breeding ground for radicalism and found no indications that the movement worked against integration or that it was involved in terrorism or religious radicalization. A further academic study sketched a portrait of a socially conservative, inwardly directed movement with an opaque organizational structure, but said that its members tend to be highly successful in society and thus form no threat to integration. [106]

Relations to politics

Neither Gülen nor his followers have formed a national political party, but they have had political involvement or parliamentary representation. In 2008, Gülen was described as "the modern face of the Sufi Ottoman tradition", reassuring his followers, including many members of "Turkey's aspirational middle class", that "they can combine the statist-nationalist beliefs of Atatürk’s republic with a traditional but flexible Islamic faith" and "Ottoman traditions [have] been caricatured as theocratic by Atatürk and his 'Kemalist' heirs". [107] In the early 2000s, the Gülen movement was seen as keeping a distance from established Islamic political parties. [108]

According to academic researcher Svante E. Cornell, director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, "With only slight exaggeration, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as well as the government it has led could be termed a coalition of religious orders." [109]

"[...T]he Gülen movement stayed away from electoral politics, focusing instead on increasing its presence in the state bureaucracy. The Hizmet movement’s stated success in this regard would initially make it Erdoğan’s main partner, but also his eventual nemesis." [110]

Freedom of speech

Der Spiegel criticized the movement regarding its activities towards freedom of the press. Despite Gülen emphasizing how much he cares of the freedom of the press in interviews, the movement launched a campaign towards the newspaper in 2012, after an article was written regarding the "cult", in which approximately 2000 readers wrote letters of complaint to the press council. These letters were all alike each other, and thus were all rejected. Der Spiegel said the movement distorted events, threatened those who spoke against it, and accused Der Spiegel of having ties to the Turkish mafia. While Gareth Jenkins of The Sunday Times said, despite portraying itself as a peaceful educational movement, the Gülen organization never hesitates to use anti-democratic and anti-liberal methods. [111]

Membership

"It is impossible to calculate the size of the Gülen movement" since the movement is not a centralized or formal organization with membership rosters, but rather a set of numerous, loosely organized networks of people inspired by Gülen. [112] Estimates of the size of the movement vary, with one Tempo in 1997 stating that between 200,000 supporters and 4 million people are influenced by Gülen's ideas, [113] and another source stating that Gülen has "hundreds of thousands of supporters". [114] The membership of the movement consists primarily of students, teachers, businessmen, academics, journalists and other professionals. [8]

Organization

The movement states that it is based on moral values and advocacy of universal access to education, civil society, tolerance and peace. The emphasis among participants is to perform "service" (which is the meaning of the Turkish word "hizmet") as arising from individuals' personal commitments to righteous imperatives. Along with hizmet, the movement, which has no official name, is termed the Gülen movement or cemaat (the latter also used to describe participants in Sufi orders, meaning "congregation," "community," or "assembly.")

The movement's structure has been described as a flexible organizational network. [115]

Lay clergy (Imam-Mullah-Shaykh)

The movement skirted Kemalist Turkey's prohibitions against assembling in non-state sponsored religious meetings. (As a young man, future President Erdoğan belonged to the Naqshbandi tariqa which was then technically banned in Turkey. [116] )

Akin to Turkey's Sufi tariqas are lay religious orders which have been banned in Turkey since 1925. [117] Movement schools and businesses organize locally and link themselves into informal networks. [118] Each local Gülen movement school and community has a person designated its "informal" prayer leader (Imam). In Turkey Imam is state-sponsored. In the Gülen movement, this individual is a layman who serves for a stint within this volunteer position, lay clergy. His identity is kept confidential, generally only purposely made known to those with close connections to those participating in decision-making and coordinating councils within the local group. Above a grouping of such "secret" (not-publicly-acknowledged) imams is another such volunteer leader. This relationship tree continues on up the ladder to the nation-level imam and to individuals who consult with Gülen himself. [119] These individuals closest to Gülen, having degrees from theology schools, are offhandedly referred to within the movement as mullahs . [120] Gülen's position, as described in the foregoing, is analogous to that of a shaykh (master) of a Sufi tariqa. Unlike with traditional tariqas, no-one makes pledges of any sort, upon joining the Gülen movement; one becomes a movement participant simply by working with others to promote and effect the movement's objectives of education and service. [121]

In 2017, German magazine Der Spiegel called the movement a "secretive and dangerous cult" while calling Gülen a suspicious individual. Saying, "the movement calls itself a tolerant service movement, while those who have left the movement call it a secretive Islamist organization with Fethullah Gülen as its leader". The article said pupils attending the "cults" schools in Germany were under immense pressure from their abi's (tutors) who were telling them which books to read, which movies to watch, which friends to meet and whether to see their families or not. While the abi's were keeping a protocol of all those staying in the cult's dormitories.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted a German lawyer that called the organization "more powerful than the Illuminati" and "not transparent as opposed to the claims", and reported that the organization tried to reorganize in the Swabia region of Germany. [122]

Associated organizations

Gülen and the Gülen movement are technology-friendly, work within current market and commerce structures, and are savvy users of modern communications and public relations. [107]

Its members have founded schools, universities, an employers' association, charities, real estate trusts, student organizations, radio and television stations, and newspapers. [114]

Hizmet-affiliated foundations and businesses were estimated to be worth 20-50 billion dollars in 2015. [123]

Schools

Schools associated with the Gülen movement can be found in countries with large populations of people of Turkish descent as well as in predominantly non-Turkish Muslim countries where they provide families with an alternative to madrasa education. There were many Gülen schools in Turkey that an estimated 1.2 million Turks passed through (Including many of Erdoğan's relatives). [124] However after the attempted coup in 2016, all of the schools were shut down and banned by law.

In 2009, it was estimated that Gülen linked schools around the world enrolled more than 2 million students. [37] Estimates of the number of schools and educational institutions but it appears there were about 300 Gülen Movement schools in Turkey and over 1,000 schools worldwide at that time. [125] [126] Later reporting by the Wall Street Journal estimated around 150 schools just in the United States, "ranging from networks in Texas, Illinois and Florida to stand-alone academies in Maryland". [127] Although there is no formal networking of all the schools, collectively they form one of the largest collections of charter schools in America." [128]

Most Gülen movement associated schools are private schools or charter schools. The curricula of the schools vary from country to country but they generally follow a secular mixture of Turkish and local curricula with an emphasis on science and math. A 2008 article in the New York Times said that in Pakistan "they encourage Islam in their dormitories, where teachers set examples in lifestyle and prayer", and described the Turkish schools as offering a gentler approach to Islam that could help reduce the influence of extremism. [91] However in America, "there is no indication the American charter network has a religious agenda in the classroom", according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. [129]

Two American professors at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and Temple University wrote that "these schools have consistently promoted good learning and citizenship, and the Hizmet movement is to date an evidently admirable civil society organization to build bridges between religious communities and to provide direct service on behalf of the common good". [130] Professor Joshua Hendrick of Loyola University Maryland, who studies the movement, said that Gülen himself "does not have a direct hand in operating" the charter schools and it was reported that Gülen has never visited the schools. [127] [131] Alp Aslandoğan, director of the Alliance for Shared Values said that the schools are independent yet indirectly tied to the Gülen movement on the "intellectual or inspirational level." [132]

In Europe there has been some pushback to the establishment of schools associated with the movement. In Georgia, the Georgian Labour Party protested schools opening on the basis that they "aim to spread Turkish culture and fundamentalist religious ideas". [133] In the Netherlands, there were concerns that the schools would promote "anti-integrative behavior" however an investigation in 2010 by the AIVD intelligence organization found that the schools did not represent a threat. [134] [135]

In America there have been allegations and investigations into money-laundering and kickbacks at charter schools connected to the Gülen movement which receive federal financial support. [136] [137] Schools in Texas were accused of sending school funds to Gülen associated organizations by prioritizing construction contracts with Turkish expatriate-owned construction companies over more economical bids, according to reporting by The New York Times in 2011. [138] Folwell Dunbar, an official at the Louisiana Department of Education, accused Inci Akpinar, vice president of one such construction company, of offering him a $25,000 bribe to keep quiet about troubling conditions at the Abramson Science and Technology School in New Orleans which was operated by the Pelican Foundation. [139]

Media organizations

Movement members have set up a number of media organizations to promote its core values such as love, tolerance, hope, dialogue, activism, mutual acceptance and respect. These media organs include TV stations (Samanyolu TV, Samanyolu Haber TV, Mehtap TV), (Ebru TV) (English), the newspapers Zaman , Today's Zaman (English), magazines and journals in Turkish like Aksiyon , Sızıntı , [140] Yeni Ümit, Çağlayan, [141] The Fountain Magazine (English), [142] Hira (Arabic), The International Cihan News Agency and the radio station Burç FM  [ tr ].

Charitable foundations

The movement runs charity and humanitarian aid organizations internationally. Among them is the Istanbul-based Kimse Yok Mu Association (KYM). KYM organizes charity campaigns to help those in need in different parts of the world. Like any other activities of the Gülen-movement, KYM runs local projects responding to specific needs. KYM holds UN Ecosoc Special status.

Another charity organization Embrace Relief was established in New Jersey and is active in America, Asia and Africa. [143]

Professional associations

While being both praised and criticized for being market friendly, the Gülen movement has established various professional associations and business networks. Among them Istanbul based TUSKON is the major non-profit business confederation which aims to promote economic solutions as well as social and political ones. Another one called TUCSIAD is based in China, in addition to DTIK's Asia-Pacific Group which supports the Gülen movement outside of Turkey in China, hoping to influence Turkish politics from the outside.[ citation needed ]

Timeline

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Intelligence Organization</span> Intelligence agency of the Turkish government

The National Intelligence Organization, also known by its Turkish initials MIT or MİT, or colloquially as the Organization, is an intelligence agency of the Turkish government tasked with gathering information of national interests. It gathers information for the Presidency and the Armed Forces about the current and potential threats from inside and outside against all the elements that make up Turkey's integrity, constitutional order, existence, independence, security and national power and take precautions when necessary.

<i>Zaman</i> (newspaper) Turkish newspaper

Zaman, sometimes stylized as ZAMAN, was a daily newspaper in Turkey. Zaman was a major, high-circulation daily before government seizure on 4 March 2016. It was founded in 1986 and was the first Turkish daily to go online in 1995. It contained national (Turkish), international, business, and other news. It also had many regular columnists covering current affairs, interviews, and a culture section. The newspaper is known for its closeness to Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen movement. The newspaper originally supported the Justice and Development Party (AKP), but became increasingly critical of that party and its leader, Turkish president and former prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, particularly after the AKP closed the 2013 December investigation into corruption. On 4 March 2016, in what activists and international media groups criticized as another blow to press freedom in Turkey, control of the newspaper was seized by the government. The takeover was motivated by the newspaper's ties to the Hizmet movement of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, which the government accuses of attempting to establish a parallel state in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fethullah Gülen</span> Turkish scholar, theologian and dissident (1941–2024)

Muhammed Fethullah Gülen was a Turkish Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement who as of 2016 had millions of followers. Gülen was an influential neo-Ottomanist, Anatolian panethnicist, Islamic poet, writer, social critic, and activist–dissident developing a Nursian theological perspective that embraces democratic modernity. Gülen was a local state imam from 1959 to 1981 and he was a citizen of Turkey until his denaturalization by the Turkish government in 2017. Over the years, Gülen became a centrist political figure in Turkey prior to his being there as a fugitive. From 1999 until his death in 2024, Gülen lived in self-exile in the United States near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.

<i>The Imams Army</i> 2011 Turkish book by Ahmet Şık

The Imam's Army is a book by Turkish journalist Ahmet Şık on the life and work of Fethullah Gülen and his Gülen movement. Şık was detained in March 2011, before the book was published, and the draft book was seized by the government and banned, claiming it was an "illegal organizational document" of the secret organization Ergenekon. Şık was detained pending trial, being eventually released pending trial in March 2012. In the interim, in an act of anti-censorship defiance, a version of the book was released in November 2011 under the name 000Kitap (000Book), edited by 125 journalists, activists and academics, and published by Postacı Publishing House.

Mehmet Baransu is a Kurdish journalist and author from Turkey. He is a correspondent for Taraf, and previously worked for Aksiyon (1997–2000). He is the winner of a 2009 Sedat Simavi Journalism Award. Known for investigating the Turkish military, he reported on the "Cage Action Plan" which became part of the Ergenekon trials, and published documents in January 2010 revealing "Balyoz" ("Sledgehammer"), a plan for a coup that was supposedly hatched by Turkish military officers in 2003. In January 2010, in connection with Sledgehammer, Baransu delivered a suitcase to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office a suitcase containing evidence of the coup plot such as CDs, tapes, printed documents, and handwritten notes. The Sledgehammer plot involved plans to bomb two mosques in Istanbul, attack a military museum and blame it on religious extremists, and attack a Turkish plane and blame it on Greece. Three hundred and thirty-one of the 365 suspects were sentenced to prison on 21 September 2012, while the remaining 34 were acquitted. Three retired generals were sentenced to life in prison on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government by force," but their terms were later reduced to 20 years. Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled in June 2014 that the rights of most of the convicted suspects had been violated, and ordered the immediate release of 236 of them. The rest were released later. A new trial began on 3 November 2014. Reports released in December 2014 and February 2015 claimed that some of the evidence in the case was fabricated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">İlhan Cihaner</span> Turkish politician

İlhan Cihaner, is a Turkish leftist politician and a former prosecutor. He's a parliamentary deputy for the Republican People's Party (CHP) since 2011. He was the Chief Public Prosecutor of Erzincan from 2007; he resigned in 2011 in order to stand for election. He is a suspect in the Ergenekon trials. He is a columnist for the soL newspaper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ergün Poyraz</span> Turkish author

Ergün Poyraz is a prolific Turkish author known for his controversial books about the ruling Justice and Development Party, the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, and people associated with them. He is best known for his 2007 book The Children of Moses, which accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife of being secret Jews and of cooperating with Israeli intelligence to undermine Turkish secularism. He was arrested in 2007 and was a defendant in the Ergenekon trials; on 5 August 2013, he was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

The 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey or 17–25 December Corruption and Bribery Operation was a criminal investigation that involved several key people in the Turkish government. All of the 52 people detained on 17 December were connected in various ways with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Prosecutors accused 14 people – including Suleyman Aslan, the director of state-owned Halkbank, Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, and several family members of cabinet ministers – of bribery, corruption, fraud, money laundering and gold smuggling.

The Gülen movement schools are a network of private or semi-private schools founded by Turkish-Americans. Alp Aslandoğan, executive director of the non-profit organisation Alliance for Shared Values has said that the schools are independent yet indirectly tied to the Islamic Gülen movement on the "intellectual or inspirational level." In 2009, it was estimated that members of the Gülen movement ran schools that serve more than 2 million students, many with full scholarships. Estimates of the number of schools and educational institutions varied widely, with about 300 schools in Turkey and over 1,000 schools worldwide.

The Daily Sabah is a Turkish pro-government daily newspaper, published in Turkey. Available in English and owned by Turkuvaz Media Group, Daily Sabah published its first issue on 24 February 2014. The editor-in-chief is Ibrahim Altay.

The political conflict between the AKP-ruled Turkish government and the Gülen movement of Fethullah Gülen began in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Turkish coup attempt</span> Failed military coup in Turkey

On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize control of several places in Ankara, Istanbul, Marmaris and elsewhere, such as the Asian side entrance of the Bosphorus Bridge, but failed to do so after forces and civilians loyal to the state defeated them. The Council cited an erosion of secularism, elimination of democratic rule, disregard for human rights, and Turkey's loss of credibility in the international arena as reasons for the coup. The government said it had evidence the coup leaders were linked to the Gülen movement, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the Republic of Turkey and led by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish businessman and a well-known Islamic scholar who lived in exile in Pennsylvania. The Turkish government alleged that Gülen was behind the coup and that the United States was harboring him. Events surrounding the coup attempt and the purges in its aftermath reflect a complex power struggle between Islamist elites in Turkey.

The Alliance for Shared Values (AfSV) is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit umbrella organization and a major part of the Gülen movement, or Hizmet.

Since 2016, the government of Turkey has conducted a series of purges, enabled by a state of emergency in reaction to the failed coup attempt on 15 July that year. The purges began with the arrest of Turkish Armed Forces personnel reportedly linked to the coup attempt but arrests were expanded to include other elements of the Turkish military, as well as civil servants and private citizens. These later actions reflected a power struggle between secularist and Islamist political elites in Turkey, affected people who were not active in nor aware of the coup, but who the government claimed were connected with the Gülen movement, an opposition group which the government blamed for the coup. Possession of books authored by Gülen was considered valid evidence of such a connection and cause for arrest.

Turkey's media purge after the failed coup d'état on July 15, 2016 resulted in the shutdown of at least 131 media outlets and the arrest of 117 journalists – at least 35 of whom have been indicted for "membership in a terror group".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Brunson</span> American pastor

Andrew Craig Brunson is an American pastor. Before becoming a lecturer in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, he was the evangelical pastor of a Protestant church with a congregation of 24 people in İzmir, Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 March for Justice</span>

The March for Justice was a 450 km (280-mile) march from Ankara to Istanbul to protest against arrests that were made as part of the government crackdown following the July 2016 coup d'état attempt. After the coup attempt, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government declared a state of emergency. Since then at least 50,000 people have been arrested and another 140,000 people have been removed from their positions. The protest was led by opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in response to a lengthy prison sentence that Enis Berberoğlu received for allegedly giving the press a video that shows Turkish intelligence smuggling weapons into Syria. The march concluded in Istanbul on 9 July with a rally attended by hundreds of thousands of people, during which Kılıçdaroğlu spoke at length about the effect that the government purge has had on the judiciary and rule of law in Turkey.

The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) is an advocacy organization founded in 2017 by Turkish journalists allegedly linked to the Gülen movement. SCF is managed by Abdullah Bozkurt and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The group moved to Sweden after the government crackdown on press freedom in Turkey after the deadly 2016 failed coup d'état attempt, which the government blamed on Gülenists. The group is mainly focused on issues related to human rights and press freedom in Turkey, although it occasionally reports on other countries as well. It has issued a number of reports in English and Turkish on the human rights situation in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdullah Bozkurt</span> Turkish journalist

Abdullah Bozkurt is a Turkish journalist. He was the bureau chief for the Gülen-aligned newspaper Today's Zaman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahval</span> Online news portal focused on Turkey

Ahval is an Emirati-funded online news website that solely reports on Turkey. The site was launched in 2017. Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar is the current editor-in-chief. The name Ahval means "events" and is a Turkish Arabism derivation from "ahwal".

References

  1. ↑ Bilefsky, Dan; Arsu, Sebnem (24 April 2012). "Turkey Feels Sway of Fethullah Gulen, a Reclusive Cleric". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331.
  2. ↑ "Country Policy and Information Note Turkey: Gülenism" (PDF).
  3. ↑ "Turkey Sentences 24 Journalists to Prison, Claiming Terrorism Ties". The New York Times. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "Over half a million suspected Gülenists investigated since coup | Ahval". Ahval. Ahvalnews.com. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  5. ↑ Rapoza, Kenneth (20 December 2015). "In Sunni 'Cult' Fight, Turkey Guns For America's Richest And Most Politically Connected Cleric". Forbes . Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "The Turkish exception: Gallipoli, Gülen, and capitalism". Australia's ABC. Radio National. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Kenneth Rapoza. "In Sunni 'Cult' Fight, Turkey Guns For America's Richest And Most Politically Connected Cleric". Forbes.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  8. 1 2 White, Jenny Barbara (1 January 2002). Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: A Study in Vernacular Politics. University of Washington Press. ISBN   9780295982236 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "The Gulenists fight back". The Economist. 18 May 2013.
  10. ↑ "Most Turks believe a secretive Muslim sect was behind the failed coup". The Economist. 28 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Altruistic Society or Sect? The Shadowy World of the Islamic Gülen Movement". Spiegel Online. 8 August 2012.
  12. ↑ Akyol, Mustafa (22 July 2016). "Who Was Behind the Coup Attempt in Turkey?". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  13. ↑ "Turkey to add Gülen movement to list of terror groups: President". Hurriyet Daily News. 27 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "EU expresses concern over declaration of Gülen movement as terrorist without due process". Turkish Minute. 3 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Turkey as a model of democracy and Islam". 30 May 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  16. ↑ Halil M. Karaveli: The Coalition Crumbles: Erdogan, the Gülenists, and Turkish Democracy, The Turkey Analyst, vol. 5, no. 4, Feb. 20, 2012
  17. ↑ Sebnem Arsu: Intelligence Chief Must Testify, nytimes.com, Feb. 10, 2012
  18. ↑ Turkey Feels Sway of Reclusive Cleric in the U.S., nytimes.com, April 24, 2012
  19. 1 2 3 "Turkey: Erdogan faces new protests over corruption scandal". Digital Journal. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  20. 1 2 "İstanbul'da yolsuzluk ve rüşvet operasyonu" [Corruption and bribery operation in Istanbul]. 17 December 2013.
  21. 1 2 "Profile: Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement". BBC News . 18 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  22. 1 2 "The Gulen movement: a self-exiled imam challenges Turkey's Erdoğan". The Christian Science Monitor . 29 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  23. ↑ "BPA Audit Figures Reveal Turkish Newspaper As Having One of the Largest Subscriber Bases in Europe". ClickPress. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  24. ↑ "Turkey officially designates Gulen religious group as terrorists". Reuters. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  25. 1 2 "Turkey officially designates Gulen religious group as terrorists". Reuters. 31 May 2016 – via www.reuters.com.
  26. 1 2 "'FETÖ, KKTC'de de terör örgütleri listesine eklendi'". dunya.com (in Turkish). 17 August 2016.
  27. 1 2 "GCC declare Gulen group a 'terrorist organisation'". 14 October 2016.
  28. ↑ "Turkey: Mass arrests after coup bid quashed, says PM – BBC News". BBC News. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  29. ↑ Sheena McKenzie; Ray Sanchez. "Turkey coup attempt: Erdogan rounds up suspected plotters". CNN.
  30. ↑ "194 killed in quashed Gülenist coup attempt: Military". Hürriyet Daily News . 16 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  31. ↑ Saul, Stephanie (16 July 2016). "An exiled cleric denies playing a leading role in coup attempt". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  32. ↑ "Gülenist prosecutor's confession a sigh of relief for former top Turkish soldier - Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  33. ↑ "Semdinli Bombers are Acquitted". Artı Gerçek. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  34. ↑ Duran, Aram Ekin (19 January 2017). "Clues pointing to the Gulen network in the Hrant Dink murder case?". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  35. ↑ Günday, Selahattin (9 December 2015). "Hrant Dink iddianamesi 5: Yol verilen cinayet..." [Hrant Dink indictment 5: Murder on the way...]. Al Jazeera Turk. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  36. ↑ "Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program". Silkroadstudies.org. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  37. 1 2 Cagaptay, Soner (16 May 2009). "Behind Turkey's Witch Hunt". Newsweek .
  38. ↑ "Fetullah Gülen and FETÖ" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  39. ↑ "Turkey: ten writers and journalists arrested". Human Rights House Foundation. 13 March 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  40. ↑ Arango, Tim (26 February 2014). "Turkish Leader Disowns Trials That Helped Him Tame Military". The New York Times . Retrieved 27 February 2014. In 2005, years before the trials, a man affiliated with the Gulen movement approached Eric S. Edelman, then the American ambassador, at a party in Istanbul and handed him an envelope containing a handwritten document that supposedly laid out a plan for an imminent coup. But as Edelman recounted, he gave the documents to his colleagues and they were determined to be forgeries.
  41. ↑ Turkish authorities launch raids to censor book before publication in the Guardian of 5 April 2011; accessed on 11 April 2011
  42. ↑ Arsu, Şebnem (3 March 2011). "7 More Journalists Detained in Turkey". The New York Times.
  43. ↑ Details can be found in English on the site of the Democratic Turkey Forum; accessed on 5 April 2001. In the footnotes to translated passages of the book you can find other works on the subject.
  44. ↑ The alleged terrorist network is the Ergenekon organization; see Article of 29 March 2011 Archived 1 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine ; accessed on 5 April 2011
  45. ↑ "Erdogan's new sultanate". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  46. ↑ "Under Erdogan, Turkey is moving away from democracy". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  47. ↑ Akkoc, Raziye (17 March 2016). "Where did it all go wrong for Turkey?" . Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  48. ↑ "In Turkey, police arrest journalists and executives". CNN. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  49. ↑ "Court rules for release of Zaman chief editor, Samanyolu manager arrested". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  50. ↑ "Turkey media arrests: Mogherini leads EU criticism". BBC. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  51. ↑ "Turkey: Zaman newspaper taken over as government steamrolls press freedom". amnesty.org. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  52. ↑ Timur, Safak; Arango, Tim (4 March 2016). "Turkey Seizes Newspaper, Zaman, as Press Crackdown Continues". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  53. ↑ "Turkey challenged by terror in 2015". TRT World (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  54. ↑ "Turkey arrests dozens suspected of eavesdropping on president". Aljazeera. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  55. ↑ "Öcalan, Gülen'e selam söyledi" [Öcalan said hello to Gülen]. Hürriyet. 23 March 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  56. ↑ "Muhbir ihaneti: 329 jandarma muhbiri deşifre oldu" [Informant betrayal: 329 gendarmerie informants deciphered]. Haber 7. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  57. ↑ "Sözde 'yurtta sulh konseyi' üyesi Ali Osman Gürcan'ın cezası belli oldu" [The sentence of Ali Osman Gürcan, a member of the so-called 'Peace at Home Council', has been announced.]. Aksam. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  58. ↑ Öztürk, Ahmet Erdi (26 February 2019). "An alternative reading of religion and authoritarianism: the new logic between religion and state in the AKP's New Turkey" (PDF). Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. 19: 79–98. doi:10.1080/14683857.2019.1576370. ISSN   1468-3857. S2CID   159047564.
  59. ↑ "2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Turkey". United States Department of State.
  60. ↑ Dartford, Katy (22 November 2019). "Greece: A safe haven for Turks threatened over Gülen movement links". euronews.
  61. ↑ Adely, Hannan (17 October 2019). "Labeled terrorists in their homeland, hundreds of Turks seek asylum in New Jersey". USA Today.
  62. ↑ "Turkey poised to rescind Fethullah Gülen's citizenship". Ahval. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  63. ↑ Strobel, Warren P. (13 November 2019). "Turkey Gathered Information in the U.S. Against Its Critics". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  64. ↑ Lepeska, David (15 February 2020). "Broken Gülen movement faces existential crisis". Ahval. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  65. ↑ "2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Turkey". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  66. ↑ "Abductions of Gulenists by Turkish state". Hurriyet. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  67. ↑ "Turkish officials abducted a Gulenist from Azerbaijan". AA. 20 July 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  68. ↑ "Ozdemir vs. Azerbaijan". LawEuro. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  69. ↑ "Gabon handed over 3 detained educators to Turkey". Stockholm Center for Freedom. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  70. ↑ "Nephew of Gulen seized". BBC. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  71. ↑ "Turkey abducts Erdogan opponents in Kosovo". Deutsche Welle. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  72. ↑ "Orhan Inandi abducted from Kyrgistan". BBC. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  73. ↑ "Moldova deported 7 Gulenists". Amnesty International. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  74. ↑ "Abductions in Turkey Today" (PDF). Turkey Tribunal. July 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  75. ↑ "In Turkey, Twitter is the enemy of the people". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  76. 1 2 "Kyrgyz Officials Deny Role In Kidnapping Of Educator By Turkish Intelligence". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  77. ↑ "Erdogan boasts of abduction of Turkish-born Kyrgyz educator Orhon Inandi". www.intellinews.com. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  78. ↑ "OIC lists Gulen network as 'terror group'". 19 October 2016.
  79. ↑ Repression or recovery? UK's relations with Turkey, Parliament.uk, 25 March 2017
  80. ↑ EU says needs concrete evidence from Turkey to deem Gulen network as terrorist, Tulay Karadeniz, Tuvan Gumrukcu, November 30th 2017, Reuters
  81. ↑ Germany needs more evidence to declare Gulen movement illegal: Merkel, Reuters
  82. ↑ "Who was the Ankara assassin?". ABC News. 20 December 2016.
  83. ↑ "Erdoğan resmen açıkladı: Suikastçı FETÖ mensubu" [Erdoğan officially announces: Assassin is FETÖ member]. Milliyet Haber. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  84. ↑ Osborne, Samuel. "Vladimir Putin says killing of Russian ambassador designed to spoil Russian-Turkish ties Putin orders security at Russian embassies around the world to be stepped up". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  85. ↑ Osborn, Andrew (19 December 2016). "Putin says Turkey ambassador murder is ploy to wreck Syrian peace process". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  86. ↑ "Five sentenced to life in Turkey for Russian envoy's murder". France 24. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  87. ↑ "Trial Begins Over Alleged Plot Behind Assassination Of Russian Envoy In Turkey". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  88. ↑ "Prosecutors seek life sentence for defendants in Russian ambassador's killing". Hürriyet Daily News. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  89. ↑ Borger, Julian (19 December 2016). "Why killing of Russian diplomat may well bring Turkey and Russia closer". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  90. ↑ "Gulen condemns the killing". Reuters. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  91. 1 2 Tavernise, Sabrina (4 May 2008). "Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam". The New York Times .
  92. ↑ "Interview with Sabrina Tavernise, World View Podcasts, New York Times, May 4, 2008".
  93. ↑ "How far they have travelled". The Economist . 6 March 2008.
  94. ↑ "Turkish schools World's most global movement, says sociologist". Archived from the original on 19 December 2013.
  95. ↑ "Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site - Contributions of the Gülen Movement". En.fgulen.com. 27 October 2007. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  96. ↑ "The International Conference on The Gulen Movement, Chicago 2010". Niagara Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  97. ↑ Unal, Ali (1 October 2000). Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen . Fountain Pub. ISBN   978-0970437013.
  98. ↑ David Tittensor, The House of Service: The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way (Oxford University Press, 2014) p. 172.
  99. ↑ Infra note, Berlinski 2012
  100. ↑ Bulent Temel, Candidacy versus Membership: Is Turkey the Greatest Beneficiary of the European Union" in The Great Catalyst: European Union Project and Lessons from Greece and Turkey (ed. Bülent Temel: Lexington, 2014), p. 375.
  101. ↑ "Turkey: up from the depths". The Guardian . 27 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  102. ↑ Simon Robinson, "Building Bridges: Gulen Pontifex" in Hizmet Means Service: Perspectives on an Alternative Path within Islam (ed. Martin E. Marty: University of California Press, 2015), p. 78.
  103. ↑ Zeki Saritoprak, "Muslim Perception of Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement: Accommodating or Hindering Modern Turkey?" in Alternative Islamic Discourses and Religious (eds. Carool Kersten & Susanne Olsson: Ashgate, 2013), p. 70.
  104. ↑ "Gulen Inspires Muslims Worldwide". Forbes . Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  105. ↑ fgulen.com. "An Ottoman Empire of the Mind - Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site".
  106. ↑ Bahara, Hassan (21 March 2014). "Vormt de Gülen-beweging een bedreiging voor de integratie?". De Groene Amsterdammer . Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  107. 1 2 Masood, Ehsan (July 2008). "A modern Ottoman". Prospect . No. 148. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  108. ↑ Henry, Clement M.; Wilson, Rodney (2004). The politics of Islamic Finance. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press. p. 236. ISBN   978-0748618378.
  109. ↑ Eşiyok, Dicle (13 July 2019). "Secret Diyanet report gauges threat posed by Turkey's Islamists". Ahval. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  110. ↑ Cornell, Svante E. "The Naqshbandi-Khalidi Order and Political Islam in Turkey - by Svante E. Cornell". hudson.org. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  111. ↑ "Spiegel, sonunda FETÖ'yü çözdü" [Spiegel finally solved FETO]. Sabah. 6 February 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  112. ↑ Helen Rose Ebaugh, The Gülen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam (Springer, 2009), p. 46.
  113. ↑ Aras, Bulent; Caha, Omer (December 2000). "Fethullah Gulen and his Liberal "Turkish Islam" Movement". Middle East Review of International Affairs . 4 (4).
  114. 1 2 Morris, Chris (1 September 2000). "Turkey accuses popular Islamist of plot against state". The Guardian . Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  115. ↑ Portrait of Fethullah Gülen, A Modern Turkish-Islamic Reformist
  116. ↑ Atlas, Jonas (8 December 2016). "Media and Mysticism: Erdoğan vs. Gülen – Re-visioning Religion". Medium . Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  117. ↑ "Sufism in Turkey | Religious Literacy Project". Rlp.hds.harvard.edu. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  118. ↑ Miller, Kevin Jr. "Islam in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (The Nurcu Movement and the Hizb ut Tahrir)". Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  119. ↑ Arakon, Maya (11 April 2018). "The 'ally' to 'enemy # 1': Gülen Movement (1) | Ahval". Ahval. Ahvalnews.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  120. ↑ Bacık, Gökhan (18 May 2018). "The Intellectual Crisis of the Gülen Movement | Ahval". Ahval.
  121. ↑ Gülen, Fethullah. "Is the Gülen Movement a Sufi tariqa? - Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site". fgulen.com.
  122. ↑ Zeitung, Süddeutsche. "Augsburg: Das Gülen-Netzwerk weitet sich aus" [Augsburg: The Gülen network is expanding]. Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  123. ↑ Rapoza, Kenneth (20 December 2015). "In Sunni 'Cult' Fight, Turkey Guns For America's Richest And Most Politically Connected Cleric". Forbes . Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  124. ↑ "Inside the secretive religious movement that is being blamed for Turkey's attempted coup". The Los Angeles Times . 17 August 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  125. ↑ "Turkish Islamic preacher – threat or benefactor?", Reuters, 14 May 2008, archived from the original on 19 September 2020
  126. ↑ Turkish Schools, Turko kullari, archived from the original on 6 October 2014, retrieved 15 June 2009
  127. 1 2 Strum, Beckie (19 July 2016). "Gulen Movement's Charter Schools May Be Caught Up in Turkey-U.S. Standoff". The Wall Street Journal .
  128. ↑ Saul, Stephanie (7 June 2011). "Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas". The New York Times.
  129. ↑ "U.S. charter-school network with Turkish link draws federal attention". The Philadelphia Inquirer . 20 March 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  130. ↑ Jon Pahl and John Raines, Professor of the History of Christianity in North America, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. "Gulen-Inspired Schools Promote Learning and Service". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  131. ↑ Stahl, Lesley (13 May 2012). "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam". 60 Minutes . CBS News . Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  132. ↑ "Trump moved to cut funding for charter schools linked to Turkish preacher Gülen - Bloomberg | Ahval". Archived from the original on 27 February 2021.
  133. ↑ "Georgian Labor Party protests opening of Turkish schools - Trend.Az". En.trend.az. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  134. ↑ Claire Berlinski. "Who Is Fethullah Gulen? by Claire Berlinski, City Journal Autumn 2012". City-journal.org. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  135. ↑ "BFP Exclusive: Fethullah Gulen's New Controversy in the Netherlands". Boilingfrogspost.com. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  136. ↑ "Trump explored cutting grants for schools tied to Erdogan foe | National | theeagle.com". Archived from the original on 29 October 2019.
  137. ↑ "U.S. charter-school network with Turkish link draws federal attention - Philly.com". Articles.philly.com. 20 March 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  138. ↑ Saul, Stephanie (6 June 2011). "Charter Schools Tied to Turkey Grow in Texas". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 March 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  139. ↑ Times-Picayune, Andrew Vanacore, NOLA com | The (16 July 2011). "Records show glaring faults at school with ties to Turkish charter network". NOLA.com. Retrieved 6 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  140. ↑ Günter Seufert (January 2014). "Is the Fethullah Gülen Movement Overstretching Itself?" (Research Paper). Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  141. ↑ "Çağlayan Dergisi". Çağlayan Dergisi. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  142. ↑ "The Fountain Magazine" . Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  143. ↑ "Embrace Relief". Embrace Relief. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  144. ↑ Unal & Williams, Ali & Alphonse, ed. (2000). Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen. Fairfax, VA: The Fountain. p. 15.
  145. ↑ Ian Markham, Engaging with Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: A Model of Interfaith Dialogue, p 4. ISBN   0754669319
  146. ↑ "Son Karakol" [The Last Outpost]. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010.
  147. ↑ ""100 soruda Fethullah Gülen ve Hareketi"" [Gulen and its movement in 100 questions]. HaberTurk. 16 April 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  148. ↑ "Tiraj" [circulation]. Medyatava. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  149. ↑ Fuchs Ebaugh, Helen Rose (2009). The Gulen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam. Springer. p. 89.
  150. ↑ Salih, Yucel (December 2013). "Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Nostra Aetated and Fethullah Gulen's Philosophy of Dialogue". Australian eJournal of Theology: 200.
  151. ↑ Michel S.J., Thomas (October–December 2007). ""Fethullah Gulen and Pope John Paul II: "Two Frontrunners for Peace"". Dialogue Asia-Pacific (14): 6–8.
  152. ↑ Niagara Foundation. "History Niagara Foundation". Niagara Foundation. The Niagara Foundation was created in 2004 by a group of Turkish-American businessmen and educators in order to realize the vision of their spiritual leader, Fethullah Gulen, himself a Turkish Muslim scholar and poet, as well as an educational and humanitarian activist. Today the Niagara Foundation is active in nine Midwestern states with 22 branches.
  153. ↑ Michel, S.J., Thomas. "Fighting Poverty with Kimse Yok Mu". Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site.
  154. ↑ "United Nations Search results for CSos". esango.un.org.
  155. ↑ "Hakkında" [About]. TUSKON. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  156. ↑ "List of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council as of 1 September 2013" (PDF). United Nations Economic and Social Council. 3 October 2013. p. 3.
  157. ↑ Butler, Daren (21 October 2024). "Gulen, the powerful cleric accused of orchestrating a Turkish coup, dies". Reuters . Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  158. ↑ "Fethullah Gülen'in öldüğü açıklandı". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). 21 October 2024. Retrieved 21 October 2024.

Further information

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.