Turk Who Leads a Movement Has Advocates and Critics

Brian Knowlton

Fethullah Gulen

Saylorsburg — Here in northeastern Pennsylvania, where fertile farmlands yield suddenly to the hauntingly beautiful foothills of the Pocono Mountains, quietly resides one of the most influential men in Turkey.

And one of the most controversial.

Admirers describe Fethullah Gulen, 69, a soft-spoken Muslim preacher, author and teacher with a huge following, in reverential tones.

John L. Esposito, a Georgetown University professor who has studied Mr. Gulen, said that if he were to compare Mr. Gulen to another public figure it would be the Dalai Lama.

Skovoroda, Fethullah Gülen discussed in Kiev conference

Yunus Erdoğdu

Eighteenth century Ukrainian philosopher Grigory Savvich Skovoroda and Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen were discussed in a conference in the Ukrainian city of Kiev on Tuesday.

Titled “The currency of the tradition of humanism,” the conference was held by the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine and the İstanbul-based Dialogue Eurasia Platform (DA) and was attended by Turkish and Ukrainian academics.

The Gülen movement and the philosophy and pedagogical tradition of Ukraine were discussed in a roundtable gathering.

Why did Fethullah Gulen speak?

Aslı Aydıntaşbaş / Milliyet

Why did Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen feel the need to speak about the Gaza flotilla issue? How should this message from Pennsylvania, which came at a time when Turkey was unable to overcome the shock of the attack on the Mavi Marmara, be understood?

It seems to me that Gülen has noticed the psychological atmosphere that has been taking Turkey away from its mission as a “bridge between the East and the West” towards the corridors of the Arab world. An atmosphere that has been taking Turkey away from its identity as a “Western Muslim country” heading for the EU to a position as the protector of Hamas and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And he wanted to say “stop” to that. The Gülen movement has the power of transcending Turkish borders with its schools and NGOs across the world. The movement, just like Turkey, gets its power from its ability to be a bridge between the East and the West and to make use of this with a dynamic workforce. The move of the spiritual leader of a movement with such a global aim at a point when he thinks Turkey’s interests are at stake is very understandable.

Published on Today's Zaman, 08 June 2010

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