Turkish Twitter war over education, AKP vs. Saudi Gulen movement

litwin · Nov 27, 2013

Turkish Twitter war over education, AKP vs. Saudi Gulen movement.

very smart move from Erdogan , Saudi cancer "education" has turned the most civilized part of British India ( P-stan) into a failed state

Plans to abolish "prep schools" in Turkey have sparked a huge feud between two of the country's most powerful forces on the micro-blogging website Twitter.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK party have proposed eliminating the schools, which provide private tuition classes to help high school children prepare for university entrance exams.

This has angered supporters of the Gulen movement, which finances and runs many of the schools. Numerous hashtags about the row have been tweeted millions of times over the past week.

#BBCtrending reports that the row points to deeper tensions between Mr Erdogan and the Gulen movement.
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Margot2 · Nov 27, 2013

Gulen is a Saudi cleric who lives in the US. Do you ever do any research?

BTW.. where is your link to this story?

litwin · Nov 27, 2013

Margot2 said: ↑

Gulen is a Saudi cleric who lives in the US. Do you ever do any research?

BTW.. where is your link to this story?
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ideologically they are very close to each other ,both have in a program : gender apartheid, sharia , religious education (brain washing) , etc

Margot2 · Nov 27, 2013

litwin said: ↑

ideologically they are very close to each other ,both have in a program : gender apartheid, sharia , religious education (brain washing) , etc
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Waste of time posting on a thread that will be jerked for non-compliance.

litwin · Nov 27, 2013

Margot2 said: ↑

Waste of time posting on a thread that will be jerked for non-compliance.
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we will see

Jeannette · Nov 27, 2013

litwin said: ↑

Turkish Twitter war over education, AKP vs. Saudi Gulen movement.

very smart move from Erdogan , Saudi cancer "education" has turned the most civilized part of British India ( P-stan) into a failed state
Click to expand...

This has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia. From what I gathered Gulen lives in Pennsylvania and has schools all over the world, but mostly in Turkey. His version of Islam is much more moderate than the Sunni version, but it is cultic in that total obedience is expected...or so I believe.

He was one of Erdogan's biggest supporters, but now Erdogan has turned on him. I have to assume Erdogan wants complete control over the education of children in Turkey. Erdogan did say once he wanted to raise a devout generation, and he is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. It was his troublemaking to restore Morsi, that had the Turkish ambassador kicked out of Egypt.

Gulen's schools though are not the only schools that will be closed. Erdogan wants to close all the prep schools, and it is bad for parents who can't afford private schools. Without these prep schools many children will not be able to get into colleges. There were more riots because of this, especially by the teachers who will be losing their jobs. Erdogan is making more and more enemies, and as one person said, Turkey doesn't have diplomatic relations with three of its neighbors. It seems he is making more and more of a mess in his country, and covers it all up with lies, lies and more lies.

.

litwin · Nov 27, 2013

Jeannette said: ↑

This has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia. From what I gathered Gulen lives in Pennsylvania and has schools all over the world, but mostly in Turkey. His version of Islam is much more moderate than the Sunni version, but it is cultic in that total obedience is expected...or so I believe.

He was one of Erdogan's biggest supporters, but now Erdogan has turned on him. I have to assume Erdogan wants complete control over the education of children in Turkey. Erdogan did say once he wanted to raise a devout generation, and he is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. It was his troublemaking to restore Morsi, that had the Turkish ambassador kicked out of Egypt.

Gulen's schools though are not the only schools that will be closed. Erdogan wants to close all the prep schools, and it is bad for parents who can't afford private schools. Without these prep schools many children will not be able to get into colleges. There were more riots because of this, especially by the teachers who will be losing their jobs. Erdogan is making more and more enemies, and as one person said, Turkey doesn't have diplomatic relations with three of its neighbors. It seems he is making more and more of a mess in his country, and covers it all up with lies, lies and more lies.

.
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Gulen version is a Sunni version of Islam, and Saudis in Turkey support even more moderate Islamic organization (dont remember its name) then Gulen. Gulen has always had an clear Islamic agenda which is very close to salafi/wahhabism version of Islam

litwin · Nov 27, 2013

As Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) begins its seventh year in leadership, Turkey is no longer the secular and democratic country that it was when the party took over. The AKP has conquered the bureaucracy and changed Turkey's fundamental identity. Prior to the AKP's rise, Ankara oriented itself toward the United States and Europe. Today, despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has turned Turkey away from Europe and toward Russia and Iran and reoriented Turkish policy in the Middle East away from sympathy toward Israel and much more toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria. Anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic sentiments have increased. Behind Turkey's transformation has been not only the impressive AKP political machine but also a shadowy Islamist sect led by the mysterious hocaefendi (master lord) Fethullah Gülen; the sect often bills itself as a proponent of tolerance and dialogue but works toward purposes quite the opposite. Today, Gülen and his backers (Fethullahcılar, Fethullahists) not only seek to influence government but also to become the government.

In 1998, Fethullah Gülen left Turkey for the United States, reportedly to receive medical treatment for diabetes. Since his voluntary exile, Gülen has resided on a large, rural estate in eastern Pennsylvania, together with about 100 followers, who guard him and tend to his needs. It is from his U.S. base that Gülen has built his fame and his transnational empire.
Today, Turkey has over 85,000 active mosques, one for every 350 citizens—compared to one hospital for every 60,000 citizens—the highest number per capita in the world and, with 90,000 imams, more imams than doctors or teachers. It has thousands of madrasa-like Imam-Hatip schools and about four thousand more official state-run Qur'an courses, not counting the unofficial Qur'an schools, which may expand the total number tenfold. Spending by the governmental Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet Işleri Başkanlığ&#305 has grown five fold, from 553 trillion Turkish lira in 2002 (approximately US$325 million) to 2.7 quadrillion lira during the first four-and-a-half years of the AKP government; it has a larger budget than eight other ministries combined.[1] The Friday prayer attendance rate in Turkey's mosques exceeds that of Iran's, and religion classes teaching Sunni Islam are compulsory in public schools despite rulings against the practice by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Turkish high court (Danıştay).[2] Both Prime Minister Erdoğan and the Diyanet head Ali Bardakoğlu criticized the rulings for failing to consult Islamic scholars.

Gülen now helps set the political agenda in Turkey using his followers in the AKP as well as the movement's vast media empire, financial institutions and banks, business organizations, an international network of thousands of schools, universities, student residences (ışıkevis), and many associations and foundations. He is a financial heavyweight, controlling an unregulated and opaque budget estimated at $25 billion.[3] It is not clear whether the Fethullahist cemaat (community) supports the AKP or is the ruling force behind AKP. Either way, however, the effect is the same.
Gülen's Background

Born in Erzurum, Turkey, in 1942, Fethullah Gülen is an imam who considers himself a prophet.[4] An enigmatic figure, many in the West applaud him as a reformist and advocate for tolerance,[5] a catalyst of "moderate Islam" for Turkey and beyond. He is praised in the West, especially in the United States, as an intellectual, scholar, and educator[6] even though his formal education is limited to five years of elementary school. After receiving an imam-preacher certificate, he served as an imam, first in Erdirne and later in Izmir. In 1971, the Turkish security service arrested him for clandestine religious activities, such as running illegal summer camps to indoctrinate youths, and was, from that time on, occasionally harassed by the staunchly secular military.[7] In 1981, he formally retired from his post as a local preacher.

To build an image as a proponent of interfaith dialogue, Gülen met Pope John Paul II, other Christian clergy, and Jewish rabbis[8] and emphasizes the commonalities unifying Abrahamic religions. He presents himself and his movement as the modern-day version of tolerant, liberal Anatolian Sufism and has used the literature of great Sufi thinkers such as Jalal ad-Din Rumi and Yunus Emre, pretending to share their moderate teachings.[9] Quotes from their teachings adorn Fethullah's Gülen's propaganda material. The movement, its proxy organizations, and universities—including Georgetown, to which it donates money—hold conferences in the United States and Europe to discuss Gülen. In October 2007, the British House of Lords feted Gülen with a conference in his honor.

Gülen was a student and follower of Sheikh Sa'id-i Kurdi (1878-1960), also known as Sa'id-i Nursi, the founder of the Islamist Nur (light) movement.[10] After Turkey's war of independence, Kurdi demanded, in an address to the new parliament, that the new republic be based on Islamic principles. He turned against Atatürk and his reforms and against the new modern, secular, Western republic.

In 1998, Gülen departed for the United States, reportedly to receive medical treatment for diabetes. However, his absence also enabled Gülen to escape questioning on his indictment in 2000 for allegedly promoting insurrection in Turkey in a series of secretly-recorded sermons. Since his voluntary exile, Gülen has resided on a large, rural estate in eastern Pennsylvania, together with about 100 followers, who guard him and tend to his needs. These servants are educated men who wear suits and ties and do not look like traditional Islamists in cloaks and turbans. They follow their hocaefendi's orders and even refrain from marrying until age fifty per his instructions. When they do marry, their spouses are expected to dress in the Islamic manner, as dictated by Gülen himself.[11] It is from his U.S. base that Gülen has built his fame and his transnational empire.
Gülen's Education Network

The core of Gülen's network is his educational institutions. His school network is impressive. Nurettin Veren, Gülen's right-hand man for thirty-five years, estimated that some 75 percent of Turkey's two million preparatory school students are enrolled in Gülen institutions.[12] He controls thousands of top-tier secondary schools, colleges, and student dormitories throughout Turkey, as well as private universities, the largest being Fatih University in Istanbul. Outside Turkey, his movement runs hundreds of secondary schools and dozens of universities in 110 countries worldwide. Gülen's aim is not altruistic: His followers target youth in the eighth through twelfth grades, mentor and indoctrinate them in the ışıkevi, educate them in the Fethullah schools, and prepare them for future careers in legal, political, and educational professions in order to create the ruling classes of the future Islamist, Turkish state. Taking their orders from Fethullah Gülen, wealthy followers continue to open schools and ışıkevi in what Sabah columnist Emre Aköz called "the education jihad."[13]

The overt network of schools is only one part of a larger strategy. In a 2006 interview, Veren said, "These schools are like shop windows. Recruitment and Islamization activities are carried out through night classes ... Children whom we educated in Turkey are now in the highest positions. There are governors, judges, military officers. There are ministers in the government. They consult Gülen before doing anything."[14]

The AKP's controversial education policies, coupled with the Islamist indoctrination in Fethullahist schools, have accelerated the Islamization of Turkish society. During AKP's first term in government, the Erdoğan government has changed textbooks, emphasized religion courses, and transferred thousands of certified imams from their positions in the Directorate of Religious Affairs to positions as teachers and administrators in Turkey's public schools.[15] Abdullah Gül, Turkey's first Islamist president and a Gülen sympathizer, appointed a Gülen-affiliated professor, Yusuf Ziya Özcan, to head Turkey's Council of Higher Education (Yükseköğretim Kurulu, YÖK). He has also used his presidential prerogative to appoint Gülen sympathizers to university presidencies.

Beyond Turkey, the Fethullahist schools also serve as fertile recruiting grounds. In his Institut d'Etudes Politiques doctoral thesis on Gülen schools in Central Asia, Bayram Balcı, a French scholar of Turkish origin, wrote, "Fethullah's aim is the Islamization of Turkish nationality and the Turcification of Islam in foreign countries. Dozens of Fethullah's ‘Turkish schools' abroad—most of which are for boys—are used to covertly ‘convert,' not so much ‘in school,' but through direct proselytism ‘outside school.'" Balcı explained, "He wants to revive the link between state, religion, and society."[16] The schools of Gülen's Nur movement in Central Asia have worked to reestablish Islam in a region largely secularized by decades of Soviet control. Balcı explained, "The aim of the cemaat is to educate and influence future national elites, who will speak English and Turkish and who will one day prove their good intentions towards Fethullahists and towards Turkey." Several countries in the region have taken steps against Gülen's educational institutions because of such suspicions. Uzbekistan has banned the schools for encouraging Islamic law,[17] and the Russian government, weary of the movement's activities in majority Muslim regions of the federation, has banned not only the Gülen schools but all activities of the entire Nur sect in the country.[18]

Neither Uzbekistan nor Russia are known for their pluralism, but suspicion about Gülen indoctrination has spread even to more permissive societies such as that of the Netherlands. In 2008, members of the Netherland's Christian Democrat, Labor, and Conservative parties agreed to cut several million euros in government funding for organizations affiliated with "the Turkish imam Fethullah Gülen" and to thoroughly investigate the activities of the Gülen group after Erik Jan Zürcher, director of the Amsterdam-based International Institute for Social History, and five former Gülen followers who had worked in Gülen's ışıkevi told Dutch television that the Gülen community was moving step-by-step to topple the secular order.[19] While the organizations in question denied any ties to the Gülen movement, Zürcher said that taqiya, religiously-sanctioned dissimulation, was typical in the movement's interactions with the West. An unnamed former Gülen follower who also once worked in Gülen schools and ışıkevi reported that Fethullahists called the Dutch "filthy, blasphemous infidels" and that they said "the best Dutchman is one who has converted to Islam. All the Dutch must be made Muslims."[20] Indeed, of the thousands of Fethullahist schools in more than one hundred countries that allegedly teach moderation, none are located in countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iran that exist under domineering strains of official Islam, and most appear instead geared to radicalize students in secular Muslim and non-Muslim societies.
Eviscerating Checks and Balances

Fethullahists have also made inroads into Turkey's 200,000-strong police force. Their infiltration has had a compounding effect, as Fethullahist officials have purged officials more loyal to the republic than the hocaefendi. According to Veren, "There are imam security directors; imams wearing police uniforms. Many police commissioners get their orders from imams."[21] Adil Serdar Saçan, former director of the organized crimes unit within the Istanbul Directorate of Security, confirmed these statements in reports he prepared on the Fethullahist organization within the security apparatus. In a 2006 interview, he said,

Fethullahists began organizing inside the security apparatus in the 1970s. In police academies, students were being taken to ışıkevi by class commissioners. One of those commissioners is now the director of intelligence at the Turkish Directorate of Security. During my time at the [police] academy, those in the directorate who did not have ties to the [Gülen] organization were all pensioned off or fired in 2002 when the AKP came to power. … I was at the top of my class when I graduated from the police academy, and throughout the twenty-four years of my career, I maintained and was honored for my stellar record. After 2002, the AKP blocked my promotions. They promoted only those officers whose files were tainted with allegations that they were engaged in reactionary Islamist activities. … Belonging to a certain cemaat has become a prerequisite for advancement in the force. At present, over 80 percent of the officers at supervisory level in the general security organization are members of the [Gülen] cemaat.[22]

Such statements, however, may have consequences.[23] In October 2008, Turkish police arrested Saçan on suspicion of involvement in the so-called Ergenekon plot to overthrow the Turkish state.[24] Most Turkish analysts believe that the Ergenekon conspiracy, short of any evidence of unconstitutional activities, is more a mechanism by which the Turkish government can harass critics.[25]

Writer and journalist Merdan Yanardağ provided statistics to illuminate the Islamist penetration of the Ankara Directorate of Security. He explained,

Prior to Ramadan, personnel at the Directorate of Security in Ankara were asked whether they would be fasting during Ramadan, in order to establish the number of meals that would be needed during that period. Of the 4,200 employees, only seventeen indicated that they would not be fasting. Considering that some of the seventeen might have been sick or taking medications, the numbers speak for themselves. [26]

Wiretapping scandals in spring 2008 also highlighted Gülenist penetration of the security service's most important units. After the Turkish Security Directorate obtained a blanket court permit in April 2007 to monitor and record all the communications in Turkey including mobile and land-line telephones, SMS text messaging, e-mail, fax, and Internet communications,[27] Turks have grown uneasy about having telephone conversations fearing intrusion into their privacy. Recent leaks to pro-AKP media of recordings of military personnel meetings, lectures, top secret military documents, strategic antiterrorism plans, private medical files of commanders, and contents of personal conversations between state prosecutors have shocked the nation as has the appearance on the Internet video site YouTube of some of those recordings.

The alleged network of Fethullah followers in the security system has an impact on domestic affairs as they use restricted technology or privileged information to further their political agenda. In February 2008, for example, several websites posted the voice recording of a secret speech delivered by Brig. Gen. Münir Erten announcing the timing of an upcoming Turkish military operation into Iraqi Kurdistan, details of a private discussion with the chief of the General Staff, and private information concerning Gen. Ergin Saygun's health.[28] The following month, several websites including YouTube posted a secretly recorded conversation between prosecutor Salim Demirci and a colleague regarding Erdoğan and Efkan Ala, then governor of Diyarbakir and subsequently a counselor of Erdoğan's office. Erdoğan responded by ordering a criminal investigation against Demirci.[29] In June 2008, the Islamist Vakit published Saygun's entire medical file, disclosing information about his diabetes as well as the treatments and medications he had received in the Gülhane military hospital.[30] Others whose tapped conversations appeared on Islamist websites and in Gülen's newspaper network included Erdoğan Teziç, the former head of Turkey's Higher Education Council, and prominent members of the center-left opposition Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP). Many Turkish journalists believe that Fethullahist-dominated police tap their communications, and according to reports, the head of the wiretapping unit, who was appointed by Erdoğan in August 2005, is a Fethullah follower.[31] Islamist newspapers including Vakit, Yeni Şafak, Zaman, and the pro-AKP Taraf published leaks from private conversations held inside government offices and military headquarters. The Islamist, pro-AKP media has reported alleged confidential evidence relating to the police investigation of the so-called Ergenekon plot that posits a secularist cabal of military officers, journalists, and professors sought to overthrow the AKP government.[32] The net effect of such leaks is to tar the reputations of or intimidate AKP's political opponents and the Turkish military.

Islamization within police ranks also contributes to police brutality against anti-AKP demonstrators. On May 1, 2008, the police used gas bombs, pepper gas, water cannons, and clubs against workers who wanted to celebrate May Day peacefully in Istanbul's Taksim Square, the traditional site of demonstrations in Turkey's largest city; scores were injured.[33] Labor unions and opposition parties condemned the police brutality and accused Erdoğan of using police to silence opposition voices.[34] Police also suppressed labor protests in Tuzla (Istanbul) shipyards.[35] Similarly, police have harassed individual citizens after they criticized Erdoğan's policies. Erdoğan's own security guards abducted a 46-year-old man from Antalya for speaking out in public against his social security policies, taking the man to a deserted location where the guards beat and threatened him. The victim alleged that his attackers said they could easily plant guns or drugs on him and kill him.[36]

While Turkey's military is guarantor of the constitution, Veren alleged that Fethullahists had also entrenched themselves within the military, police, and other professions:

The Fethullahist military officers were once our students, who we financially supported, educated, and assisted. When these grateful children graduated and reached influential positions, they put themselves and their positions at the service of Fethullah Gülen … [Gülen] directs and instructs, and, through them, maintains power within the state … When Gülen's students graduate from the police or military academies—as do the new doctors and lawyers—they present their first salaries to Fethullah Gülen as a gesture of their gratitude. Newly graduated officers even bring him the swords that they receive during the graduation ceremony.[37]

According to Veren, Gülen has argued that the military expels no more than one in forty Islamist officers; the rest remain in undercover cells. While such allegations may seem the stuff of conspiracy theory, recent leaks to pro-AKP media suggest a number of Islamist sources within the military ranks, creating speculation that followers of Gülen now populate the senior infrastructure of the Turkish General Staff. Such speculation gained additional credence after the August 2008 Supreme Military Council (Yüksek Askeri Şura, YA&#350, which, for the first time, declined to expel suspected Islamists from military ranks.

The AKP government has also aided the Gülen movement with its reorientation of the judiciary. Over the first five years of his rule, Erdoğan replaced thousands of judges and prosecutors with AKP appointees. Now that the president is Islamist, it is unlikely that he would veto the appointment of Islamists to the bench, as did his predecessor Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Indeed, it now appears that the government intends to appoint thousands more to judicial positions.[38] The AKP has also enacted a law that would require applicants for judgeships to first interview with AKP bureaucrats in order better to gauge and adjudicate applicants' adherence to Islam. The results of the AKP's targeting of the judicial system are already apparent as anti-secular, pro-AKP officials have been at the forefront of some controversial trials, such as the case against Van University president Yücel Aşkın,[39] the Şemdinli investigation in which the prosecutor tried to implicate Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt before he became chief of the General Staff, and, most recently, the Ergenekon probe.

Indeed, it is such overtly political and vindictive prosecutions that have led some former Gülen sympathizers, such as University of Utah political scientist Hakan Yavuz, to a change of heart. In one interview, Yavuz told odatv.com that four important legal cases had changed his thinking: the case against Aşkın; the Semdinli case; the Atabeyler operation, uncovered in 2005, involving an organized crime group with alleged plans to assassinate Prime Minister Erdoğan;[40] and the Ergenekon probe. Yavuz explained, "The cemaat has attempted to steer all four cases. Look at the slanderous reports in archives of the cemaat's newspapers, how they defamed Yucel Aşkın. And now it's Ergenekon. Keeping [prominent] personalities in jail for over a year without indictment is inexplicable." Yavuz also suggested Gülen's cemaat spoke differently to its members than to outsiders and that it was pursuing a political agenda that conflicted with the founding philosophy of the modern Turkish republic. He accused Fethullahists of "co-optation" and said that they were recruiting people and paying them money—without any formal receipts or records—to write and speak favorably about the movement while criticizing the secular Turkish state.[41]
The Fifth Estate

If the police, military, and courts might normally protect rule-of-law from within official Turkish government structures, there might still be an external check to abuse of power in the Turkish media. The Turkish media has traditionally been relentless in its reporting of abuses of power and corruption. Soon after assuming office, however, Erdoğan proved intolerant of the concept of a free press. The AKP government has systematically sought to create a media monopoly to speak with one voice and on behalf of the government. Erdoğan lashes out at media organs that he does not control. In his first term, Erdoğan brought more than a hundred lawsuits against sixty-three journalists in sixteen publications, against many writers, as well as the leaders and members of parliament of all opposition parties. The number of lawsuits may be far greater. In 2008, Erdoğan declined to answer a parliamentary inquiry by a Democratic Left Party deputy demanding information on how many lawsuits Erdoğan had initiated against journalists—claiming that such information was in the realm of his private life."[42] Most of Erdoğan's lawsuits against journalists involve criticism that any other democracy would consider legitimate. In 2005, for example, he sued Cumhuriyet cartoonist Musa Kart for depicting him as a cat entangled in a ball of string. Last year, he sued the LeMan weekly humor magazine for ridiculing him in its January 30, 2008 cover.[43]

Erdoğan lost some of his lawsuits, and courts threw out others, but the effect has nonetheless been chilling. Journalists know that not only does the prime minister seek to make them financially liable for any criticism, but that the AKP might even seek to assume control of their publications. During AKP's 6-year rule, the government has seized control of several media outlets and subsequently sold them to pro-AKP holdings affiliated with the Gülen community. In April 2007, for example, the governmental Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (Tasarruf Mevduatı Sigorta Fonu, TMSF) seized Sabah-ATV, Turkey's second largest media group in a predawn raid. The TMSF, staffed by Erdoğan appointees, then sold the group to Çalık Holding, the CEO of which is Erdoğan's son-in-law. Çalık financed the purchase with public funds taken as loans from two state-owned banks and by partnering with a newly-founded, Qatar-based media company that bought 25 percent of Sabah shares. It was Abdullah Gül who introduced Ahmet Çalık to Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa during his January 2008 visit in Syria; Çalık also accompanied Gül in February and Erdoğan in April when they visited Qatar. Media reports indicated that other consortiums that had initially shown interest in purchasing Sabah-ATV with their own money pulled out of the tender shortly before the bid after Erdoğan contacted them, leaving Çalik the sole bidder.[44] Sabah has since become a strong advocate of the AKP government. In September 2008, Erdoğan demanded all party members and aides boycott newspapers owned by the Doğan Media Group after it reported on laundering of money to Islamist charities.[45]

Excluding the Islamist television and radio stations, newspapers such as Zaman, Sabah, Yeni Şafak, Türkiye, Star, Bugün, Vakit, and Taraf all have AKP and/or Gülen-affiliated ownership. By circulation, such papers represent at least 40 percent of all newspaper sales in Turkey.[46]
What Are Gülen's Intentions?

Conglomerates have long had a dominant position in Turkish society. Secular businessmen such as Aydın Doğan and Mehmet Emin Karamehmet have interests not only in industry but also in media, the banking sector, and even education. Never before, though, has a single individual started a movement that seeks to transform Turkish society so fundamentally. Gülen now wields a vocal partisan media; a vast network of loyal bureaucrats; partisan universities and academia; partisan prosecutors and judges; partisan security and intelligence agencies; partisan capitalists, business associations, NGOs, and labor unions; and partisan teachers, doctors, and hospitals. What makes Gülen so dangerous? Gülen's own teaching and sermons provide the best answers.

In 1999, Turkish television aired footage of Gülen delivering sermons to a crowd of followers in which he revealed his aspirations for an Islamist Turkey ruled by Shari‘a (Islamic law) as well as the methods that should be used to attain that goal. In the sermons, he said:

You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers … until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria … like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt. The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it … You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey … Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside. The work to be done is [in] confronting the world. Now, I have expressed my feelings and thoughts to you all—in confidence … trusting your loyalty and secrecy. I know that when you leave here—[just] as you discard your empty juice boxes, you must discard the thoughts and the feelings that I expressed here.
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Rachel Sharon-Krespin is the director of the Turkish Media Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Washington D.C.

more here http://www.meforum.org/2045/fethullah-gulens-grand-ambition

remands me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Jesus ....

Jeannette · Nov 27, 2013

This was written when Gulen was a strong supporter of Erdogan, and it seems that Erdogan has followed many of the things which are written in the report. Since Erdogan came into power, no new schools were built, and yet he has built twenty thousand mosques. The above report says the mosques are packed, but according to a report I read most of them are empty. I know my source isn't lying, so it might be a different part of the country, or the writer is lying or deceived.

It seems Erdogan is frightened of Gulen's power, so he is trying to destroy him. But that is typical Erdogan, destroy the other person before he has a chance to destroy you. It's very Ottoman. When a sultan died, the son that took over would kill all his brothers, that way they couldn't threaten the throne. One has to pity the poor mothers in such a society...and this is what he wants to impose on the world?

Jeannette · Nov 27, 2013

There is one thing though, and that is if Gulen does have a relationship with the Saudi royal family, it would be the reason Erdogan turned on him. I know there is friction between the Saudi royal family and Erdogan because of Erdogan's support of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has always wanted to oust the King in Saudi Arabia, so no doubt the King has been backing the army overthrow of Morsi.

It seems the web Erdogan has been weaving in that part of the world is getting more and more tangled. But that again is typical Ottoman.

litwin · Nov 28, 2013

Jeannette said: ↑

There is one thing though, and that is if Gulen does have a relationship with the Saudi royal family, it would be the reason Erdogan turned on him. I know there is friction between the Saudi royal family and Erdogan because of Erdogan's support of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has always wanted to oust the King in Saudi Arabia, so no doubt the King has been backing the army overthrow of Morsi.

It seems the web Erdogan has been weaving in that part of the world is getting more and more tangled. But that again is typical Ottoman.
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can you say for all 10 000 strong House of saud? "QA" today maybe doest not have direct contact with Saudi "government" but Ideologically they are the one , and have the same strategical goals .

Beyond Turkey, the Fethullahist schools also serve as fertile recruiting grounds. In his Institut d'Etudes Politiques doctoral thesis on Gülen schools in Central Asia, Bayram Balcı, a French scholar of Turkish origin, wrote, "Fethullah's aim is the Islamization of Turkish nationality and the Turcification of Islam in foreign countries. Dozens of Fethullah's ‘Turkish schools' abroad—most of which are for boys—are used to covertly ‘convert,' not so much ‘in school,' but through direct proselytism ‘outside school.'" Balcı explained, "He wants to revive the link between state, religion, and society."[16] The schools of Gülen's Nur movement in Central Asia have worked to reestablish Islam in a region largely secularized by decades of Soviet control. Balcı explained, "The aim of the cemaat is to educate and influence future national elites, who will speak English and Turkish and who will one day prove their good intentions towards Fethullahists and towards Turkey." Several countries in the region have taken steps against Gülen's educational institutions because of such suspicions. Uzbekistan has banned the schools for encouraging Islamic law,[17] and the Russian government, weary of the movement's activities in majority Muslim regions of the federation, has banned not only the Gülen schools but all activities of the entire Nur sect in the country.[18]
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Margot2 · Nov 28, 2013

litwin said: ↑

Gulen version is a Sunni version of Islam, and Saudis in Turkey support even more moderate Islamic organization (dont remember its name) then Gulen. Gulen has always had an clear Islamic agenda which is very close to salafi/wahhabism version of Islam
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Not at all.. He's not Wahhabi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethullah_Gülen

litwin · Nov 28, 2013

Margot2 said: ↑

Not at all.. He's not Wahhabi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethullah_Gülen
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but he is an Islamist, who has the similar with Wahhabists goals

Margot2 · Nov 28, 2013

litwin said: ↑

but he is an Islamist, who has the similar with Wahhabists goals
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He's pretty moderate and he's a Turk not a Saudi.

litwin · Nov 28, 2013

Margot2 said: ↑

He's pretty moderate and he's a Turk not a Saudi.
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he uses moderate methods

Jeannette · Nov 29, 2013

Many Turks believe Gulen and the AKP will end up destroying one other. I hope it's more than wishful thinking. As for Erdogan, he is a big supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and they have always been against the Saudi King and want to form an Islamic Caliphate. Erdogan couldn't stop his troublemaking in Egypt to restore the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi, and so the Turkish ambassador was kicked out of Egypt.

The Turkish Foreign Minister Devotoglu, who was once given an award for his foreign policy by some stupid institute, has now managed to break off diplomatic relations with five of Turkey's neighbors: Israel, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, and Armenia. Great work Ottomans, keep up the 'Strategic Depth'.

A-R · Nov 30, 2013

what does Gulen movement have to do with Saudi? this is very contradictory, and sounds provocative..

Margot2 · Nov 30, 2013

A-R said: ↑

what does Gulen movement have to do with Saudi? this is very contradictory, and sounds provocative..
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Nothing at all.. Litwin calls people Wahhabi willy nilly.

litwin · Dec 7, 2013

Jeannette said: ↑

Many Turks believe Gulen and the AKP will end up destroying one other. I hope it's more than wishful thinking. As for Erdogan, he is a big supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and they have always been against the Saudi King and want to form an Islamic Caliphate. Erdogan couldn't stop his troublemaking in Egypt to restore the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi, and so the Turkish ambassador was kicked out of Egypt.

The Turkish Foreign Minister Devotoglu, who was once given an award for his foreign policy by some stupid institute, has now managed to break off diplomatic relations with five of Turkey's neighbors: Israel, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, and Armenia. Great work Ottomans, keep up the 'Strategic Depth'.
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A-R said: ↑

what does Gulen movement have to do with Saudi? this is very contradictory, and sounds provocative..
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Margot2 said: ↑

Nothing at all.. Litwin calls people Wahhabi willy nilly.
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i did not Gulen followers for wahhabists . Erdogan said once there are not such a thing as moderate Islam, just - Islam . new my question: what is the ultimate goal for Gulen movement ?

A-R · Dec 16, 2013

litwin said: ↑

my question: what is the ultimate goal for Gulen movement ?
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Gulen and his so-called movement is orientalist. their goal is to corrupt islam.

Talon · Dec 16, 2013

Margot2 said: ↑

Nothing at all.. Litwin calls people Wahhabi willy nilly.
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Indeed. I have friends in Ankara who would get a good laugh out of that "Saudi" Gulen movement jive...

litwin · Dec 16, 2013

A-R said: ↑

Gulen and his so-called movement is orientalist. their goal is to corrupt islam.
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can you find a more corrupted regime then Saudi Arabian one ?

Margot2 · Dec 17, 2013

litwin said: ↑

i did not Gulen followers for wahhabists . Erdogan said once there are not such a thing as moderate Islam, just - Islam . new my question: what is the ultimate goal for Gulen movement ?
Click to expand...

There are five pillars in Islam.. They are fundamental.

1) Faith
2) Prayer
3) The 'Zakat'
4) The Fast
5) Pilgrimage (Hajj)

I think Litwin you have missed understand the basics and what Ergodan was saying.

litwin · Dec 17, 2013

Margot2 said: ↑

There are five pillars in Islam.. They are fundamental.

1) Faith
2) Prayer
3) The 'Zakat'
4) The Fast
5) Pilgrimage (Hajj)

I think Litwin you have missed understand the basics and what Ergodan was saying.
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you´d read his speech, anyone do you think that your 5 pillars suit all in Turkey?

A-R · Dec 19, 2013

litwin said: ↑

can you find a more corrupted regime then Saudi Arabian one ?
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sure. how about N. Korea, or Venezuela?

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